[telecom] How a mayor's quest to unmask a foul-mouthed Twitter user blew up in his face

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How a mayor's quest to unmask a foul-mouthed Twitter user blew up in his face Angry backlash shows that online overreach won't "play in Peoria."

by Nate Anderson May 13 2014 Ars Technica

When news broke that the mayor of Peoria, Illinois, had called upon his town's police force to shut down a fake Twitter account opened in his name; that local police had responded with search warrants against Twitter, Comcast, and Google; that they had at last raided a local home and seized four iPhones, four computers, two Xbox game consoles, an iPad, and a "large gold gift bag with five sandwich bags containing a green leafy substance;" that the homeowner hadn't created the account but was ultimately suspended from his job as a result of that "green leafy substance;" that Peoria's next city council meeting descended into outright acrimony over the heavy-handedness of the entire episode; and that the entire episode turned out to be a colossal waste of time and resources in which no one but the pot owner was ever charged with a crime-well, that's the moment at which a curious reporter files a public records act request to get a glimpse of how such a trainwreck got underway.

So I filed one-and the backstory I found was fascinating.

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