Hacking-by-subpoena ruled illegal
Issuing an egregiously overbroad subpoena for stored e-mail qualifies as a computer intrusion in violation of anti-hacking laws, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday, deciding a case in which a litigant in a civil matter subpoenaed every single piece of e-mail his courtroom adversary sent or received.
Alwyn Farey-Jones was embroiled in commercial litigation with two officers of Integrated Capital Associates (ICA) when he instructed his attorney, Iryna Kwasny, to send a subpoena to the company's Internet service provider -- California-based NetGate. Under federal civil rules, a litigant can issue such a subpoena without prior approval from the court, but is required to "take reasonable steps to avoid imposing undue burden or expense" on the recipient.
By the time ICA learned of the subpoena, NetGate had already provided Farey-Jones with a sample of 339 e-mails from ICA officers and employees -- most of them unrelated to the matter under litigation, and many of them privileged or personal. When ICA found out, they quickly got the subpoena quashed. An outraged district court magistrate termed the subpoena "massively overbroad" and "patently unlawful," and hit Farey-Jones with over $9,000 in sanctions.
Read the entire story here
Patrick L. Baird
Private Investigator
Alwyn Farey-Jones was embroiled in commercial litigation with two officers of Integrated Capital Associates (ICA) when he instructed his attorney, Iryna Kwasny, to send a subpoena to the company's Internet service provider -- California-based NetGate. Under federal civil rules, a litigant can issue such a subpoena without prior approval from the court, but is required to "take reasonable steps to avoid imposing undue burden or expense" on the recipient.
By the time ICA learned of the subpoena, NetGate had already provided Farey-Jones with a sample of 339 e-mails from ICA officers and employees -- most of them unrelated to the matter under litigation, and many of them privileged or personal. When ICA found out, they quickly got the subpoena quashed. An outraged district court magistrate termed the subpoena "massively overbroad" and "patently unlawful," and hit Farey-Jones with over $9,000 in sanctions.
Read the entire story here
Patrick L. Baird
Private Investigator
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