A former deputy mayor in the UK has subpoenaed Cloudflare in the US to discover the identity of an anonymous British political blogger.

Initially, the network infrastructure giant gave the blog owner, who pays Cloudflare to optimize their WordPress site, until the end of this week to file a legal challenge in the States against the subpoena, or have their personal details handed over to the ex-official. On Tuesday, the San Francisco-based corporation agreed to delay disclosure until January 29.

The subpoena was granted in California by federal district Judge James Donato in October based on a complaint filed by Daniel Maycock, the former Deputy Mayor of Tamworth, a town in Staffordshire, England.

[1]

Maycock had asked the American court to compel Cloudflare to identify the operator of the website Debunking Tamworth, claiming an article it published online the year before contained false and defamatory statements that have hindered Maycock's future academic and political opportunities and have inflicted emotional distress.

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The ex-politician made his claim under [4]28 U.S.C. §1782 , a statute that aims to simplify the discovery process in the US for litigation in foreign courts. The use of the law has increased substantially in recent years, [5]according to Seyfarth Shaw LLP.

Maycock did not respond to a request for comment. The offending post, which included a screenshot of unsubstantiated claims about the former deputy mayor from a social media site, has since been removed.

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"When I started the blog, it was with good intentions," the site publisher told The Register on condition of anonymity, explaining the dot-com was set up to scrutinize those in the political sphere of Tamworth. "The blog grew and grew until this year we hit 10,000 unique visits per month. The blog was never intended to ever cause anyone any harm."

[7]IT worker sued over 'vengeful' cyber harassment of policeman who issued a jaywalking ticket

[8]Polyfill.io owner punches back at 'malicious defamation' amid domain shutdown

[9]Stanford Internet Observatory wilts under legal pressure during election year

[10]US law to neuter libel tourism

Cloudflare declined our multiple requests for comment.

The Register understands from discussions with legal experts that the company's [11]policy of alerting customers to legal demands and allowing them time to intervene is a reasonable approach, one not every business follows.

Some online companies – such as [12]Twitter prior to its takeover by Elon Musk, and [13]Reddit – have taken a more customer-focused approach by resisting such demands without asking the targeted individual or group to intervene.

In the Tamworth case, the blog owner needs to successfully quash the subpoena in court, or Cloudflare will ultimately comply with the order, we understand.

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Aaron Mackey, free speech and transparency director for [15]The Electronic Frontier Foundation , told The Register this case is an interesting one as it involves a public figure, critical speech, and a federal court of the United States, historically a bastion of free-speech protections thanks to the nation's famous First Amendment.

While Maycock was able to file his claim in the US himself, the website publisher is likely to need a lawyer to respond effectively. The First Amendment [16]can be used to defeat subpoenas that seek to unmask anonymous internet users, depending on the circumstances.

"You do need a lawyer to stand up and advocate for your rights," Mackey told us. "We hope that courts are taking these issues seriously, recognizing a potential First Amendment harm, and really making sure that the plaintiff has done their job to show that they actually can prevail and overcome any First Amendment concerns." ®

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[4] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/1782

[5] https://www.seyfarth.com/news-insights/the-expanding-use-of-28-usc-1782.html

[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z4AAtiqfLBQIO550D_9ayQAAAQI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/30/it_worker_defamation_lawsuit_police/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/28/polyfillio_cloudflare_malware/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/14/stanford_internet_observatory/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2010/07/30/libel_tourism_bill/

[11] https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/privacypolicy/

[12] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/07/technology/us-blinks-in-clash-with-twitter-drops-order-to-unmask-anti-trump-account.html

[13] https://torrentfreak.com/filmmakers-request-identities-of-reddit-users-to-aid-piracy-lawsuit-230218/

[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z4AAtiqfLBQIO550D_9ayQAAAQI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[15] https://www.eff.org/

[16] https://kr.law/practice-areas/motion-to-quash#:~:text=When%20a%20subpoena%20is%20issued,other%20constitutional%20and%20statutory%20grounds.

[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/