Last week, the New York Times reported that New York City has subpoenaed the creator of TxtMob, a web- and SMS-based service that helped facilitate protestor communications during the 2004 Republican National Convention. From the story:

The subpoena, which was issued Feb. 4, instructed Mr. Hirsch, who is completing his dissertation at M.I.T., to produce a wide range of material, including all text messages sent via TXTmob during the convention, the date and time of the messages, information about people who sent and received messages, and lists of people who used the service.

The good news is that Tad Hirsch, TxtMob’s creator, is refusing to turn over any records, at least for now. The bad news is that this subpoena happened at all, adding SMS logs to the list of electronic communications that governments want to get their hands on, next to emails, web browsing histories and telephone calls.

Another unrelated yet awesome thing that Hirsch has done is to make the source code open and free. Maybe I could use this to power a future project…

Source: City Subpoenas Creator of Text Messaging Code