Tallbloke

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  merovee · Member · Dec 16, 2011 at 2:47 pm

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  Hi-my blog is http://merovee.wordpress.com/ .

  I know this may be the wrong place to post but from someone who occasionally writes on ‘touchy’ subjects, I would be interested if a member of staff can tell me under what circumstances they give information to the ‘authorities’.

  The reason for my question is I understand a WordPress.com blog based in England ‘Tallbloke’s Talkshop’ has been the subject of a notice from the US Dept of Justice to Automattic.com requesting personal information concerning his blog . Do Automattic.com automatically comply with these types of requests or are there hurdles the authorities have to go through ? Click http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/tallbloke-towers-raided-many-computers-taken/ to read his story .

  I am also based in Britain – is my blog under US law or British law, or both ?

  Hoping a knowledgable member of staff is lurking . I realise you won’t be able to comment on Tallblokes personal postion but a general reply would be appreciated . Thanks .

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  1tess · Moderator Emeritus · Dec 16, 2011 at 2:55 pm

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  Please contact staff directly. We volunteers cannot help with such a question.

  Contact

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  auxclass · Member · Dec 16, 2011 at 3:25 pm

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  This will give you a bit of general background:

  http://en.support.wordpress.com/disputes/

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  merovee · Member · Dec 16, 2011 at 4:25 pm

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  Auxclass – thanks for the info . Not very comforting but good to know .

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  1tess · Moderator Emeritus · Dec 16, 2011 at 4:32 pm

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  Thanks from me too; for some reason I couldn’t think of what to search for…

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  auxclass · Member · Dec 16, 2011 at 4:33 pm

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  You be welcome

  On the good side – WordPress.COM seems to come down on the side of freedom of speech

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  merovee · Member · Dec 16, 2011 at 4:51 pm

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  I know WordPress is pretty good about freedom of speech . Unfortunately, I realise they have to comply with the law and this is pretty draconian . One letter and all your personal info can be handed over but is a sign of the times .

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  timethief · Member · Dec 16, 2011 at 9:07 pm

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  Reference link: support documentation > Disputes: Defamation, Court Orders, Subpoenas, Privacy

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  auxclass · Member · Dec 16, 2011 at 9:35 pm

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  Outside of your blog contents WordPress.COM retains very little info about you – your email, blog account names, user name and the IP address you logged in from – they don’t even know your real name unless you give it to them. And as noted in the Forum many many times and the link above – it takes a court order to get even that little info.

  The subpoena looked a bit boiler plate to me telling WordPress.COM not to delete anything – stop the shredder is sort of standard. The bigger deal was the computers taken by the British Police.