FC: Feds can secretly get info on cable modem owners, judge says

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.law.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=law/View&c=Article&cid=ZZZ5C1JRPQC&live=true&cst=1&pc=0&pa=0&s=News&ExpIgnore=true&showsummary=0

Cable-Based Internet Provider Cannot Reveal Federal Probe

Tom Perrotta
New York Law Journal
August 23, 2001

In an apparent case of first impression, a district court has ordered a 
cable company to provide federal investigators with private details about 
one of its Internet subscribers without informing the subscriber.

The ruling, handed down by U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein of 
the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, comes amidst 
much debate over the scope of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984.

The decision will be published Monday.

In Re Application of the United States of America for an Order Pursuant to 
18 U.S.C. §2703(d), 01 Mag. 1389, concerns the government's request for 
information about a subscriber to Cablevision Systems Corp.'s Optimum 
Online Internet service. The subscriber, the government claimed, may be 
associated with unspecified criminal activity currently under investigation.

[...]




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