3 ms·

I feel like I've been seeing a lot of comments lately to the effect of, "no - that would be illegal!" Yeah, we are talking about criminals who are already break

by macksd 5y ago

I feel like I've been seeing a lot of comments lately to the effect of, "no - that would be illegal!" Yeah, we are talking about criminals who are already breaking one law. Often criminals who, in the very nature of their crime, are hard to identify. But then, even if they're not overtly breaking the law with a simple request for information, debt collectors and car warranty salesman are notorious for sending letters that will imply they are your financial institution, the letter was sent by your account manager, etc. IRS impersonators will tell people that jail time is imminent. I can imagine someone could create something that looks to a non-lawyer (who's afraid and not paying attention) like it's basically warrant signed by someone who's basically a judge, but just doesn't outright say that. You'd still need to verify - hey is this person actually a judge, and did this person actually sign that as a warrant?

qbasic_forever 5y ago
Yes, which is why just set the bar at responding to any request for any data with "Sorry we do not respond to requests for data that aren't court ordered warrants. Please come back with a warrant we can verify." The problem here is that companies have a policy of trusting some government email address for little one-off, no warrant needed requests. Don't have that policy.
- rosndo 5y ago
  > Please come back with a warrant we can verify The problem is that it might not be easy to verify a real warrant, but that’s not grounds for noncompliance.
- macksd 5y ago
  >> Please come back with a warrant we can verify Ok. Now how do I verify one, assuming the information in this article is accurate?
  - qbasic_forever 5y ago
    You check the court records. These are easy to find with a digital records search, or you call the court clerk. The phone number is listed on the warrant. This is not hard, but it's not an automated process by design.
    - account42 5y ago
      > The phone number is listed on the warrant. You should not rely on any information on the document you want to verify - look it up yourself.

by macksd 5y ago

qbasic_forever 5y ago

Yes, which is why just set the bar at responding to any request for any data with "Sorry we do not respond to requests for data that aren't court ordered warrants. Please come back with a warrant we can verify." The problem here is that companies have a policy of trusting some government email address for little one-off, no warrant needed requests. Don't have that policy.

rosndo 5y ago
> Please come back with a warrant we can verify The problem is that it might not be easy to verify a real warrant, but that’s not grounds for noncompliance.
macksd 5y ago
>> Please come back with a warrant we can verify Ok. Now how do I verify one, assuming the information in this article is accurate?
- qbasic_forever 5y ago
  You check the court records. These are easy to find with a digital records search, or you call the court clerk. The phone number is listed on the warrant. This is not hard, but it's not an automated process by design.
  - account42 5y ago
    > The phone number is listed on the warrant. You should not rely on any information on the document you want to verify - look it up yourself.