The New Jersey Supreme Court held that a valid subpoena is required to seek disclosure of private subscriber information from an Internet Service Provider ("ISP").  In State of New Jersey v. Shirley Reid (A-105-06, April 21, 2008), defendant's employer used a sham subpoena to obtain information from Comcast. The resulting information confirmed the company's suspicion that the defendant had changed the username and password for the company's website.  The company turned the information over to police who arrested the defendant.  She was indicted and charged with second-degree computer theft.  In granting her motion to suppress the ISP information, the court ruled that a criminal grand jury subpoena was required because an indictable offense was at issue.  However, nothing bars the prosecutor from obtaining a grand jury subpoena and pursuing another indictment. To review the case, click here.

 




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