Legal Information Request Policy

Legal Information Request Policy

GlowHost.com, LLC and its affiliates (“GlowHost”) are committed to maintaining the privacy and trust of our customers and the free exchange of ideas. This document describes the procedures government agencies, law enforcement authorities, and individuals involved in civil litigation must follow in addition to all applicable legal requirements when they request customer data.

These guidelines (the “Guidelines”) are provided for informational purposes only and do not represent a commitment by GlowHost to provide information. GlowHost reserves the right to respond or object to any Data Request in any manner consistent with applicable law.

I. GlowHost’s Commitment to Privacy

In accordance with our commitment to maintaining our customers’ privacy and trust:

• As explained further in Section VIII below, to the extent legally permissible GlowHost will notify our customers or partners of any Data Request relating to their data.
• GlowHost will review the legality of each Data Request, and specifically whether the party making the request has a valid legal right to make such request. GlowHost will refuse to provide information in response to any request in which it identifies inconsistencies or inaccuracies.
• GlowHost will provide the narrowest possible set of information permissible when responding to a Data Request based on a reasonable interpretation of the request.
• GlowHost will reject requests that have been improperly served or requests that we deem to be incomplete, overly broad or vague, or unduly burdensome. GlowHost reserves the right to object to Data Requests for any reason.
• We may make an exception to these commitments in emergency cases where we believe disclosing customer data will prevent imminent death or serious physical harm to a person. In such an event, we will notify the customer to the extent legally permitted.

II. Types of Requests

GlowHost only considers the following requests. Each request must be submitted pursuant to formal legal process.

A. Data Request

A Data Request is a request for information relating to a GlowHost customer account in connection with an official criminal or administrative investigation or proceeding, or a filed civil legal action. Examples of legal process that may serve as the basis for a Data Request include the following:

• Subpoenas
• Court Orders
• Search Warrants
• Civil Investigative Demands

Data Requests may come from government agencies or law enforcement (collectively “Government Data Requests”) or from private parties (“Civil Data Requests”).

B. Preservation Request

A Preservation Request asks GlowHost to preserve customer account data in connection with an official criminal or administrative investigation or proceeding. Preservation Requests must include all of the information outlined in Section IV below.

In response to a Preservation Request, GlowHost will generally agree to preserve for ninety (90) days a one-time snapshot of the then-existing account data specified in the Preservation Request, pending service of formal legal process and provided the requestor agrees to the fee schedule set forth herein.

On the ninety-first (91st) day the preserved data may be deleted unless the requestor has provided a formal Data Request in the interim. Any production of preserved data will be subject to the timelines and fees outlined in these Guidelines, which may include an additional fee for any such preservation.

C. Expedited Requests

Upon request, and subject to the fees set forth in Section X below, GlowHost may process a Data Request on an expedited basis. GlowHost will determine whether processing may be expedited on a case-by-case basis, which will take into account, among other things, the nature of the request and the resources available to handle it. GlowHost makes no assurances that expedited handling will be available.

III. Submitting a Data Request

A. Service of Process by government agencies or law enforcement

Government Data Requests must be submitted by providing all information requested at the following email address legal@glowhost.com.

GlowHost will accept service of subpoenas, warrants, court orders, and governmental civil investigative demands or related legal process not requiring the oral testimony or personal appearance of a GlowHost representative, exclusively at the email address legal@glowhost.com, with a copy by any means authorized under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or Florida State Law.

B. Service of Process in Civil Matters

All service of process in civil matters shall be domesticated through the Florida State or Federal Courts, as applicable, and shall conform to the laws of the State of Florida.

IV. Information to Include in Data Requests

A. All Data Requests must include the following information:

• Customer domain or account identification number
• Customer first and last name
• A specific date or a narrowly tailored date range (generally up to 2 months).

GlowHost will not respond to any Data Request that could infringe on the privacy rights of a customer not subject to the Data Request. For example, customers are able to add or remove domain names from their accounts at any time. As a result, a given domain name may be assigned to a different individual. Thus, a request for information relating to a given domain name may relate to more people than just the customer(s) who are relevant to the Data Request and infringe on the privacy rights of those people.

B. Government Data Requests and Preservation Requests

Depending on the nature of data requested, GlowHost requires that any produced data be subject to a reasonable protective order. These requests must be sent on law enforcement letterhead in a non-editable format and be signed by the requesting official.

To enable GlowHost to verify that a Government Data Request is from an official agency or authority, GlowHost requires that each request include at least the following information:

• Requesting agency’s name
• Requesting agent’s name
• Requesting agent’s badge/identification number
• Requesting agent’s employer-issued e-mail address (GlowHost will not respond to an individual’s private email address or any e-mail address in a domain not associated with the requesting agency)
• Requesting agent’s telephone number (including extension)
• Requesting agent’s mailing address (P.O. boxes will not be accepted)
• Requested response date (allowing for at least 2 weeks for processing).
• Copy of the warrant, court order, grand jury subpoena, or other legal process pursuant to which the request is made, including without limitation any non-disclosure order purporting to restrict GlowHost from notifying customers of the request.

C. Civil Data Requests

The following information is required for any Civil Data Request.

• Requesting party’s name
• Counsel name and applicable State Bar Number
• Telephone number
• E-mail address
• Mailing address (P.O. boxes will not be accepted)
• Requested response date (please allow at least 4 weeks for processing)
• Copy of the subpoena to which the request is made.

Private litigants are strongly encouraged to seek data directly from the GlowHost customer or end user, who can use account tools to download the relevant data from their GlowHost Control Panel. Applicable law limits GlowHost’s ability to produce certain types of data in the absence of a warrant or customer consent.

D. Time for Response

We generally respond to Data Requests handled in the order that we receive them with emergency, law enforcement, and expedited requests given priority. We respond to most requests within thirty (30) days. Response times will be commensurate with the size and complexity of the request.

E. Format of Response

We generally provide responsive information via e-mail in the form of a compressed, password protected file. If the volume of returned data is larger than a few megabytes, we may place the compressed, password protected file for download via a secured GlowHost account or FTP server.

V. Information Available in Response to Data Requests

Government Requests: GlowHost may provide Account Information, Account Data, or Content of Account in response to valid Government Requests that are properly served. These types of information are described in more detail below. The type of responsive information provided will depend on the type of Government Request and the information requested. GlowHost only provides the Content of Account with customer consent or when compelled by law to provide the information to the government.

Civil Requests: As a general matter and subject to limited exceptions, GlowHost is not legally permitted to provide the Content of Account in response to a Data Request from a private litigant. We may provide other readily available Account Information or Logs in response to narrowly tailored and properly served Civil Requests.

The fees associated with the production of each of these categories of records is outlined in Section XI (Cost Reimbursement).

Definitions

Account Information

Account Information includes the following:

A. Basic Customer Information

A report which shows basic customer information including, to the extent GlowHost’s customer completed the fields upon registration, the following information:

• Customer’s first and last name
• Contact telephone number
• Company name, if applicable
• Physical or mailing address (Street, City, State, and Zip Code)
• Email address(es)
• Date of account signup and deactivation date.

Please note that GlowHost customers register through an online portal and their names, addresses and other contact information are not verified or regulated by GlowHost in any way.

B. Billing History Information

A report which gives basic information in the form of line items transactions:

• Date of transaction
• Transaction reference number
• Amount of transaction
• Payment method (including the last 4 digits of a credit card or indication of invoice billing)
• State of transaction (success or failure)
• GlowHost does not have access to customers’ credit card information.

C. Account Data

A list of data associated with an account logged automatically by the server, if available, and content of the account uploaded by the account owner or website users. Each logged activity has a date/time stamp, and this assumes the user has enabled logging on their account, which may not always be the case.

Account Log Records

A list containing the following information:

• Website access logs
• Email access logs
• Email communication logs
• Control panel access logs

Content of Account

Content includes:

• Files present in the account
• Databases names present in the account, not data within the databases themselves

GlowHost will not produce the content of e-mail or databases used in electronic communications, as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. §2701 et seq., prohibits an electronic communications service provider from producing the contents of electronic communications, even pursuant to subpoena or court order, except where required by law. GlowHost.com, LLC e-mail servers do not retain deleted or sent e-mail unless a customer has made customizations to their account. GlowHost would not automatically be aware of such changes without a detailed forensic analysis, or direct disclosure or permission by the customer to access these locations.  

VI. Requests from Non-US authorities

A Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), letters rogatory, or similar process may be required for disclosure of data in connection with Data Request from a non-United States authority.

VII. Limitations on GlowHost’s Retention of Customers’ Data

GlowHost takes reasonable and appropriate steps to guard against inadvertent or malicious deletion or destruction of data in its systems. GlowHost provides information as available based on our retention policies, which may differ per account, per plan, or an account may have no data retention policy at all.

Please note that GlowHost normally deletes or de-identifies a customer’s data within 30-45 days of account closure. In addition, customers have the ability to delete data, such as files and emails, from their accounts. GlowHost is not able to recover a customer’s data once it has been deleted. GlowHost will provide information as available.

VIII. Notification of Customers

GlowHost will notify our customers or partners of any Data Request unless legally prohibited from doing so by law or a valid nondisclosure order.

IX. Questions/Status Requests

Questions regarding these Guidelines or any pending request should be directed to legal@glowhost.com.

X. Fees for Cost Reimbursement

GlowHost will charge the person or entity submitting the subpoena for costs associated with subpoena compliance. GlowHost may charge additional fees for especially unusual or burdensome requests, including without limitation any requests not covered in the tables below. All fees are in U.S. Dollars. Payments must be made within thirty (30) days from the date of receipt of the invoice.

Table 1: Fees

Table 2: Payment Methods