City & Cnty. of S.F. v. Homeaway.com, No. A150385 (D1d4 Mar. 28, 2018)
In investigating tax evasion, San Francisco’s tax collectors served a subpoena for user data on an Internet home rental listings site. The superior court compelled Site to produce the records. Site says that violates the Stored Communications Act and the constitutional rights of its users.
Showing posts with label subpoenas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label subpoenas. Show all posts
Friday, May 11, 2018
Monday, October 9, 2017
A Stored Communications Act Primer
Facebook, Inc. v. Superior Court, No. D072171 (D4d1 Sept. 26, 2017)
The is a criminal case where the defendant argues, unsuccessfully, that he has a constitutional right to subpoena non-public Facebook posts from his alleged victim’s account, notwithstanding that federal law prohibits Facebook from disclosing that info. I’m not going to get into that.
But the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2701–12, is something civil litigators should be aware of. It prohibits a person or entity that provides electronic communications or remote computing services from divulging the contents of a communication that is stored, carried, or maintained by that service. § 2702. There are a bunch of exceptions, but a civil discovery subpoena is not one of them. Which is why you can’t subpoena your opponents’ emails directly from Google or AOL or whatever. You need to either demand that stuff from the opponent directly, or get their permission to have the service provide it, which is a permissible exception. See § 2703(b)(3). You can, however, get materials that aren’t the contents of communications, like subscriber information. § 2703(c).
Writ granted.
The is a criminal case where the defendant argues, unsuccessfully, that he has a constitutional right to subpoena non-public Facebook posts from his alleged victim’s account, notwithstanding that federal law prohibits Facebook from disclosing that info. I’m not going to get into that.
But the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2701–12, is something civil litigators should be aware of. It prohibits a person or entity that provides electronic communications or remote computing services from divulging the contents of a communication that is stored, carried, or maintained by that service. § 2702. There are a bunch of exceptions, but a civil discovery subpoena is not one of them. Which is why you can’t subpoena your opponents’ emails directly from Google or AOL or whatever. You need to either demand that stuff from the opponent directly, or get their permission to have the service provide it, which is a permissible exception. See § 2703(b)(3). You can, however, get materials that aren’t the contents of communications, like subscriber information. § 2703(c).
Writ granted.
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