Legal Q&A: Subpoenas, Warrants and Requests

[mandy]

Because of the information they "touch" on a regular basis, Web hosts often receive requests to produce information generated by their customers, or by their customers’ customers. In addition, Web hosts are often the third-party targets of lawsuits brought against their customers. As just about any host may find itself in this situation, every host should educate itself on how to handle requests from law enforcement that either expressly require - or implicitly demand - that you produce information; and how to respond to civil requests for information related to a lawsuit between two businesses...

..It is important to remember that information and data your customers put on your servers is their property. Unless there is a specific law allowing it, you cannot simply provide a customer’s information to a law enforcement entity.

full article: http://www.thewhir.com/features/snead-subpoenas.cfm