Kinay v. TCI Journal [1]

A resort developer filed a John Doe lawsuit in California state court against the anonymous operators of TCI Journal [2], an online newspaper that reports on government corruption in the Turks & Caicos Islands. According to press [3] acounts [4], Dr. Cem Kinay alleges that TCI Journal defamed him by posting articles linking him to government corruption in the former British colony.

After filing the lawsuit, Kinay subpoenaed [5] Google to turn over identifying information and IP address log-in history for the Gmail account tcijournal@gmail.com.  Google notified [6] its subscriber that it would comply with the subpoena unless provided with a copy of a motion to quash or other formal objection filed in court by September 6, 2009. A Google spokesperson issued the following statement to a reporter with ReadWriteWeb [4]:

"When Google receives legal process, such as court orders and subpoenas, where possible we promptly provide notice to users to allow them to object to those requests for information. Users may raise any and all objections they feel are relevant, including First Amendment arguments. In addition, we are still evaluating all our legal options regarding this particular request."

As of September 9, no formal objection to the subpoena had been filed.