Law Enforcement and Subpoenas - Indymedia, Rackspace Subpoena released

As many may remember, Rackspace basically shut down the Indymedia webspace by turning over servers Rackspace believed had been subpoenaed. The subpoena underlying Rackspace's actions has been disclosed - albeit in redacted form. It turns out that the subpoena only asked for certain log files. Rackspace's actions are a striking example of the need for Internet companies to develop plans to respond to subpoenas and warrants, and be able to parse law enforcement "lingo" to determine what is actually being requested. As I've noted in prior posts, and will be discussed in my upcoming column in The Web Host Industry Review Magazine, there have been at least two cases in which a hosting provider has been successfully sued for turning over customer data when it was not legally required to do so. It is important to remember that in most cases the data on your servers is your customers and not yours. Thanks to Dev Chanchani at INetU for bringing this to my attention.

Indymedia Site

CNet Article

Redacted Subpoena