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Filed under: Security, Google

Google's not fighting Gmail subpoenas

Google has been issued a subpoena for the IP addresses of some Caribbean journalists, and intends to hand them over, according to WikiLeaks. In case you're not familiar WikiLeaks is meant to be a safe place for whistleblowers to post politically sensitive documents, particularly those dealing with government corruption. TCI Journal, based in the Turks & Caicos Islands, uncovered a huge payoff from a property development company to one of the island's top government officials. After the scandal blew, the British government took over control of the islands from the corrupt government.

Now, corrupt developers are using a subpoena to get the IP address behind the newspaper's Gmail account, and Google doesn't appear to be fighting it. A letter from Google to the Journal indicates that they'll be handing over the IP addresses in two weeks, and suggests the Journal take things up with the court in California if that's going to be a problem. If Google's setting a precedent here, that could be a problem for any Gmail user who finds himself on the receiving end of a lawsuit. I suspect online privacy watchdogs will take Google to task not only for failing to anonymize its records, but for turning them over without a fight.
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