SHOULD I BE SCARED??? Google & civil subpoena

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karukera

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Hello guys,

Haven't posted in ages... I started 2 years ago with BHW and let's just say that I've taken giant steps since those days and making good money with ppc & adwords.. Today I just received an email from Google. The email has been edited for obvious reasons:

Hello,

Google has received a civil subpoena for information related to your
Google account in a case entitled name edited, Attorney General
Department of Legal Affairs, State of Florida, Case number edited.

To comply with the law, unless you provide us with a copy of a motion to
quash the subpoena (or other formal objection filed in court) via email at
[email protected] by 5pm Pacific Time on April 27, 2010, Google
will assume you do not have an objection to production of the requested
information and may provide responsive documents on this date.

For more information about the subpoena, you may wish to contact the party
seeking this information at:

name, last names edited
Office of the Attorney General
107 West Gaines Street, Suite 543
Tallahassee, FL 32301
edited

Unfortunately, Google is not in a position to provide you with legal
advice.

If you have other questions regarding the subpoena, we encourage you to
contact your attorney.

Thank you,

Google Legal Support

And yes I know about the FTC issues etc last year. but my account HAS NEVER BEEN BANNED and IS STILL ACTIVE TO THIS DATE.

Also I'm NOT promoting Make Money Online Products, Teeth Whitening or Smoking Shit.

I'm aslo overseas, not in the US. Am I at risk?

Any advice from experienced marketers would be much appreciated. :apple:
 
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Seek legal advice right away.
Just because you are not in the USA, doesn't mean
you can't be touched.

The USA has many, many treaties with countries from
way back that just might make you easy pickens.

Get YE self to a lawyer asap.
 
nam6641 said:
depends on what you were doing.
Click to expand...

never done anything or promoted any illegal/sex related/FTC non compliants stuff. Actually I'm still making good money from this same account to this date.
Never been touched by Google when all those accounts got shut down etc.
 
Dude, you can't be vague if you're asking for help. We need to know what you're promoting.
 
Unfortunately, Google is not in a position to provide you with legal
advice.
Click to expand...

And unfortunately, BHW is not in a position to provide you with legal
advice either.

Get a lawyer
 
Somebody is trying to get your personal information for a lawsuit.. you pissed somebody off, but not necessarily google which is why your accounts with them are still active.
 
imo,

in legalese, they're telling you that a 3rd party is seeking your private information. Google's telling you that if you do not wish for your personal information to be given to this 3rd party, then you need to let them know by april 27....if you don't respond by then, Google will take that to mean 'sure, i don't mind you sharing my adwords account to some people that might want to file a lawsuit against me' and turn over their records.

my suggestion is to contact google by 27th with a legalese response of 'hell no' and then contact the attorney general to see what the problem is

and, if in doubt, use your money to get a good net lawyer....

just in case
 
This is NOT a legally valid form of communication.

Since they email didn't even contain your name, I would be suspect of it being valid.

I think this is a little funny also, "motion to quash the subpoena". This is NOT a legal term and also makes the email suspect.

If you have a lawyer friend, certainly ask them. But until you have been properly served, you simply have nothing to act on.

Contact Google legal Department, send them the email and ask if they would generate such an email. I seriously doubt it, since the email itself raises some serious legal issues (privacy issues to start). Lawyers HATE being sued, it is just give the impression they MIGHT not know what they are doing.


IMHO
 
tonlilaz said:
imo,

in legalese, they're telling you that a 3rd party is seeking your private information. Google's telling you that if you do not wish for your personal information to be given to this 3rd party, then you need to let them know by april 27....if you don't respond by then, Google will take that to mean 'sure, i don't mind you sharing my adwords account to some people that might want to file a lawsuit against me' and turn over their records.

my suggestion is to contact google by 27th with a legalese response of 'hell no' and then contact the attorney general to see what the problem is

and, if in doubt, use your money to get a good net lawyer....

just in case
Click to expand...

The individual needs to make a "motion to quash the subpoena (or other formal objection filed in court)" in Florida. While contacting Googles legal department, may buy the individual some time, they can turn over the requested documents.

I would look up the case number and find out what the subpoena and charges are, if you have not done so already.

Then depending on the charges, your involvement, decide whether or not you should contact an attorney. And for the love of GOD, don't go around posting what you have or have not done on an internet forum!

Consult a lawyer if you are not sure on how to proceed. But don't go around posting on here or any other public internet forum regarding the case. With your luck, the attorney that is looking to prosecute you is going to do a google search and UP POPS THIS THREAD. With you claiming that you were either knowingly or unknowingly involved, and BAM. Now they have more evidence to look at getting admitted into court, because it was a public forum!
 
Examine the raw email headers and verify that it came from an IP/netblock actually owned by Google.
 
lincolnave, "motion to quash the subpoena" is a legal term referring to the courts power to nullify, void, or declare a subpoena invalid.

Also, email is a legally valid form of communication, but in this case they are not serving a subpoena over email, which would not be a form of legal notice. In this instance it is Google that was served with the subpoena for the information, not the OP, so Google does have to comply with the subpoena in the event that they get no legal response to the contrary.

Google is simply informing the OP that they have been served with a subpoena and the OP has until the 27th to either make a legal response (quashing the subpoena) or Google will comply with the subpoena that they were served and hand over whatever information is required.

But, as was noted by others, GET LEGAL HELP... I'm not a lawyer, nor am I offering legal advice, I'm just a dumb ass online that likes looking up geeky legal bull sh1t...

Good luck...
 
newss said:
The individual needs to make a "motion to quash the subpoena (or other formal objection filed in court)" in Florida. While contacting Googles legal department, may buy the individual some time, they can turn over the requested documents.

I would look up the case number and find out what the subpoena and charges are, if you have not done so already.

Then depending on the charges, your involvement, decide whether or not you should contact an attorney. And for the love of GOD, don't go around posting what you have or have not done on an internet forum!

Consult a lawyer if you are not sure on how to proceed. But don't go around posting on here or any other public internet forum regarding the case. With your luck, the attorney that is looking to prosecute you is going to do a google search and UP POPS THIS THREAD. With you claiming that you were either knowingly or unknowingly involved, and BAM. Now they have more evidence to look at getting admitted into court, because it was a public forum!
Click to expand...

LOL Don't you worry. You will not find anything in my message that can tie you back to me. The passage I posted does not contain any personal information pertaining to the case. Those info have been edited. Also, nothing in my message can be seen or perceived as an admission of guilt. Quite the contrary. I'm clearly stating in my opening message that I'm not promoting any illegal or shady products at all. Google is not even pissed off at me. So I'm not posting here on what I have "done or not done". I'm posting about what I have received, which is different.

I do understand the need the get a lawyer, which I will do, in order to seek legal advice on the matter. If you guys know of a good place to start to get in touch/receive info on internet lawyers, please let me know or contact me via pm, thanks.
 
Last edited:
it's strange they didn't get the details from your webhost and/or got your hosting closed down. there is way more to this story
 
Last edited:
He said he was using adwords, that's why they went to google
 
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