US Drops Subpoena on Google for Gmail User Data

Los Angeles (USA).– The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) withdrew an administrative subpoena it had sent to Google for information about a Philadelphia man who sent an email
New!Click to edit email to the agency requesting “decency” in the treatment of an Afghan asylum seeker.

Challenge for constitutional rights

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reported that the request was withdrawn after the user, whose identity was not revealed, challenged the measure on the grounds that it violated his First Amendment rights.

Data request to Google

According to court documents filed in a federal court in Northern California, the DHS asked the technology giant for information about the Gmail account and its owner, after sending the message addressed to an official of the entity after reading an article in the Washington Post.

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Interrogation in your home

Two weeks after the summons was issued, DHS agents along with a local police officer went to the man’s home to question him, which the man described as an “abusive tactic.”

The ACLU explained that these types of subpoenas do not require a judge’s signature and are not automatically enforceable. In addition, he noted that the DHS has used similar mechanisms to try to identify anonymous users on social networks and request information from academic institutions.

Lawyers for the organization called the decision to withdraw the subpoena a victory for free speech and rights protected by the U.S. Constitution.