Search Warrant for Google Docs

Wired recently reported on a search warrant the FBI served on Google last year to retrieve documents stored on the Google Docs “cloud” word-processing service, in an investigation of a company named Pulse Marketing. Pulse Marketing allegedly sent millions of spam emails promoting and offering to sell acai berry, and had established a system to create multiple Yahoo and Gmail email addresses to send the spam.

The issue: whether Pulse Marketing violated 18 U.S.C. § 1037, which prohibits using false information to create multiple fake domains or email addresses, and using those domains and addresses to send out multiple commercial email messages.  Further, the federal CAN-SPAM Act, 15 U.S.C. § 7701, et seq., places restrictions and requirements on sending commercial emails.  All in all, the idea behind these laws is to protect consumers from unsolicited and unwanted advertisements while ensuring that companies are not abusing commerical emails.

While the idea of searching emails during an investigation has become routine, the Google Docs warrant appears to be the first in which the information sought resided in documents stored in “the cloud.”  The question becomes, is “cloud computing” safe and does it protect your privacy in the world of social media law?

by:  Benish Shah, Esq. & Sheheryar Sardar, Esq., Sardar Law Firm LLC

For more information on social media law, contact: Sardar Law Firm at sardar@sardarlawfirm.com.

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