• i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 months ago

    I don’t know a lot about this. If the United States wants to subpoena records from an instance admin based outside of the United States, do they have to comply?

    • RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      I think it’s pretty murky, ignoring a subpoena is a crime, so US may be able to charge them with obstruction and request extradition, it’s then on their home countries to decide whether to accept the US’s requests. Either way I’m sure it would make them ever traveling to the US very tense.

      See: Julian Assange

      Remember though, these instance admins are generally doing this out of the kindness of their heart on shoestring budgets, it’s so much safer and easier for them to just comply with legal requests. They’re nice people, but not political martyrs.

      • i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 months ago

        Thanks, that makes sense. I wasn’t sure what to even consider for that kind of thing, but I do recognize these admins are just ordinary folks.

      • superkret
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        2 months ago

        For extradition, you’d first have to know who the instance admin is.
        I don’t think foreign ISPs will (or are even allowed to) react to a US request for information.
        So the US would have to request that info from the foreign country’s government via diplomatic channels.