Emergency Requests for User Information (original) (raw)

This process is for law enforcement and government officials only — all other reports will be ignored. Please contact law enforcement if you need immediate assistance, and instead use this form to report content.

We may disclose user information to law enforcement or the government before, or without, receiving legal process if we have a good faith belief that an emergency involving imminent danger of death or serious physical injury requires disclosure of information related to the emergency without delay. We define emergency situations as an active, specific, and imminent, threat of death or serious physical injury to an individual or a group. If your situation is not an emergency, please follow our usual procedures to request user information, outlined in our Legal Guidelines.

If you have an emergency situation, please follow these steps to submit your request:

1. Email us at legal-emergency[at]wordpress.com and include “emergency” in the subject line.
2. Include all the information you have about the situation so that we may evaluate the urgency of your request.
3. Indicate whether or not the request is confidential. If you make no mention of confidentiality, we will notify the user(s) affected.
4. Identify the specific account information that you are requesting. We may have:
   • Username
   • Email address
   • Name
   • Phone number
   • The date and time (UTC) at which a site was created
   • The IP address from which a site was created
   • IP address and user-agent for a post or revision
   • Transaction/billing information
   • Log data (which may include a user’s IP address, browser type, operating system)
   • Commenter email and IP address

Optional: If you are a U.S. Federal law enforcement officer, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section’s ISPList database has an emergency phone number at which you can reach us.

What Happens After You Submit Your Request

When we receive your request:

• We will evaluate it to determine whether or not it necessitates immediate disclosure. We vigilantly evaluate each request to protect against abuse of this policy, so if you have time to obtain subpoena, search warrant, or court order, we recommend that you do so.

If we consider your request valid, we will:

• Disclose the information requested.
• Notify the user of the request and inform them that their information was provided, unless you requested confidentiality.
• Ask you to provide a subpoena, search warrant, or court order to cover the request. If you requested confidentiality, you must include the required certification (2705(b)) or court-ordered non-disclosure provision. If you did not request confidentiality, we will provide the user with a copy of the legal process.