Obtaining and Protecting Personal Information in Litigation: The Perspective of a Wire and Electronic Communications Service Provider

摘要

You should take away from this discussion twin realizations regarding electronic communications and records in civil litigation discovery. The first is that obtaining such records may not be as simple as getting other forms of business documents from third-party witnesses. The second is that service providers and their counsel must be very careful in this area because potential liability is not trivial.rnProviders enjoy broad immunity ("no cause of action shall lie") under 18 U.S.C. § 2703(e) "for providing information, facilities or assistance in accordance with the terms of a court order, warrant, subpoena, statutory authorization, or certification under this chapter." In addition they are afforded "a complete defense" in a civil action pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2707(e) based onrna "good faith reliance on a court warrant or order, a grand jury subpoena, a legislative authorization, a statutory authorization."