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The FBI is attempting to unmask the owner behind archive.today, a popular archiving site that is also regularly used to bypass paywalls on the internet and to a

The FBI is attempting to unmask the owner behind archive.today, a popular archiving site that is also regularly used to bypass paywalls on the internet and to avoid sending traffic to the original publishers of web content, according to a subpoena posted by the website. The FBI subpoena says it is part of a criminal investigation, though it does not provide any details about what alleged crime is being investigated. Archive.today is also popularly known by several of its mirrors, including archive.is and archive.ph. The subpoena, which was posted on X by archive.today on October 30, was sent by the FBI to Tucows, a popular Canadian domain registrar. It demands that Tucows give the FBI the “customer or subscriber name, address of service, and billing address” and other information about the “customer behind archive.today.” “THE INFORMATION SOUGHT THROUGH THIS SUBPOENA RELATES TO A FEDERAL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION BEING CONDUCTED BY THE FBI,” the subpoena says. “YOUR COMPANY IS REQUIRED TO FURNISH THIS INFORMATION. YOU ARE REQUESTED NOT TO DISCLOSE THE EXISTENCE OF THIS SUBPOENA INDEFINITELY AS ANY SUCH DISCLOSURE COULD INTERFERE WITH AN ONGOING INVESTIGATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAW.” The subpoena also requests “Local and long distance telephone connection records (examples include: incoming and outgoing calls, push-to-talk, and SMS/MMS connection records); Means and source of payment (including any credit card or bank account number); Records of session times and duration for Internet connectivity; Telephone or Instrument number (including IMEI, IMSI, UFMI, and ESN) and/or other customer/subscriber number(s) used to identify customer/subscriber, including any temporarily assigned network address (including Internet Protocol addresses); Types of service used (e.g. push-to-talk, text, three-way calling, email services, cloud computing, gaming services, etc.)” -snip- Read more: https://www.404media.co/fbi-tries-to-unmask-owner-of-infamous-archive-is-site/ https://www.404media.co/fbi-tries-to-unmask-owner-of-infamou...

hrimfaxi 11mo ago
> YOU ARE REQUESTED NOT TO DISCLOSE THE EXISTENCE OF THIS SUBPOENA INDEFINITELY AS ANY SUCH DISCLOSURE COULD INTERFERE WITH AN ONGOING INVESTIGATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAW. Is this actually a mere request, as in the receiver is _not_ required to avoid disclosure? Separately—can't believe tucows is still around!
- righthand 11mo ago
  Well Tucows is Canadian so the FBI can take their “request” somewhere else.
- mothballed 11mo ago
  Isn't the whole thing a request? The FBI has no power in Canada unless they go through Canadian legal channels, no? If I received a subpoena from a foreign sovereign I would just use it as toilet paper.
  - squarefoot 11mo ago
    Pretty sure if Tucows had been in the US, the "request" would have been a gag order or something alike.
  - bossyTeacher 11mo ago
    Until you travel to the US 10 years later for someone's wedding or what not completely forgetting about the matter and you end up arrested
    - deleted 11mo ago
      [deleted]
- c22 11mo ago
  They probably cannot require this. They may be able to get you on interfering with their investigation if you disclosed with the intent of interfering. Probably adding this notice helps them prove you were aware of the potential to cause interference, at least. IANAL.
- andrewmcwatters 11mo ago
  [dead]
yatopifo 11mo ago
As a Canadian, I really hope Tucows is going to send a particularly nasty response to the FBI. Canada should never collaborate with any US authorities!
- wikipedia 11mo ago
  > Canada should never collaborate with any US authorities! Cross-border collaboration is a good thing. Our agencies regularly collaborate to bring people who feel insulted and emboldened to account for their crimes. This works both ways. As someone who has dealt with media of me as a minor (~around 11/yo) from Omegle being shared across the internet, the role archivers play in keeping illegal content “alive” isn’t well recognized. Thankfully, the Internet Archive has a matured process to purge pages that host illegal content. We do not know what the investigation is for. All is up to speculation. Not all investigations are bad. Here is an example on archive.is. I submitted multiple complaints to NCMEC but didn’t get results. Germany, though, was able to get the archives purged. https://archive.is/https://ezgif.com/maker/* https://archive.is/https://ezgif.com/maker/* On the page, you will see: > In response to a request we received from 'jugendschutz.net' the page is not currently available. That page held many, many images of minors. It is good that it is gone. August 12, 2025 - Canadian Man Sentenced to 188 Months for Attempted Online Enticement of a Minor and Possessing Child Pornography [1] August 21, 2024 - Canadian National Extradited To The United States Pleads Guilty To Production Of Child Sex Abuse Material And Enticement Of Minors December 20, 2024 - Extradited Canadian National Sentenced To Life In Federal Prison for producing child sexual abuse material and enticement of a minor [3] [1] https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndny/pr/canadian-man-sentenced-188-months-attempted-online-enticement-minor-and-possessing https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndny/pr/canadian-man-sentenced-... [2] https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/canadian-national-extradited-united-states-pleads-guilty-production-child-sex-abuse https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/canadian-national-extra... [3] https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/extradited-canadian-national-sentenced-life-federal-prison https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/extradited-canadian-nat...
  - maerF0x0 11mo ago
    > Cross-border collaboration is a good thing IMO it's only a good thing when it's a good thing. There are plenty of reasons it could be a bad thing too. For example, Edward Snowden probably would have been hung by now if russia cross-border collaborated.
mystraline 11mo ago
The term that Cory Doctorow has called these styles of stunts is: Felony contempt of business model. Turns out, our very user, Saurik, came up with this term! https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/23/how-to-fix-cars-by-breaking-felony-contempt-of-business-model/ https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/23/how-to-fix-cars-by-breaki...

hrimfaxi 11mo ago

> YOU ARE REQUESTED NOT TO DISCLOSE THE EXISTENCE OF THIS SUBPOENA INDEFINITELY AS ANY SUCH DISCLOSURE COULD INTERFERE WITH AN ONGOING INVESTIGATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAW. Is this actually a mere request, as in the receiver is _not_ required to avoid disclosure? Separately—can't believe tucows is still around!

righthand 11mo ago
Well Tucows is Canadian so the FBI can take their “request” somewhere else.
mothballed 11mo ago
Isn't the whole thing a request? The FBI has no power in Canada unless they go through Canadian legal channels, no? If I received a subpoena from a foreign sovereign I would just use it as toilet paper.
- squarefoot 11mo ago
  Pretty sure if Tucows had been in the US, the "request" would have been a gag order or something alike.
- bossyTeacher 11mo ago
  Until you travel to the US 10 years later for someone's wedding or what not completely forgetting about the matter and you end up arrested
  - deleted 11mo ago
    [deleted]
c22 11mo ago
They probably cannot require this. They may be able to get you on interfering with their investigation if you disclosed with the intent of interfering. Probably adding this notice helps them prove you were aware of the potential to cause interference, at least. IANAL.
andrewmcwatters 11mo ago
[dead]

yatopifo 11mo ago

As a Canadian, I really hope Tucows is going to send a particularly nasty response to the FBI. Canada should never collaborate with any US authorities!

wikipedia 11mo ago
> Canada should never collaborate with any US authorities! Cross-border collaboration is a good thing. Our agencies regularly collaborate to bring people who feel insulted and emboldened to account for their crimes. This works both ways. As someone who has dealt with media of me as a minor (~around 11/yo) from Omegle being shared across the internet, the role archivers play in keeping illegal content “alive” isn’t well recognized. Thankfully, the Internet Archive has a matured process to purge pages that host illegal content. We do not know what the investigation is for. All is up to speculation. Not all investigations are bad. Here is an example on archive.is. I submitted multiple complaints to NCMEC but didn’t get results. Germany, though, was able to get the archives purged. https://archive.is/https://ezgif.com/maker/* https://archive.is/https://ezgif.com/maker/* On the page, you will see: > In response to a request we received from 'jugendschutz.net' the page is not currently available. That page held many, many images of minors. It is good that it is gone. August 12, 2025 - Canadian Man Sentenced to 188 Months for Attempted Online Enticement of a Minor and Possessing Child Pornography [1] August 21, 2024 - Canadian National Extradited To The United States Pleads Guilty To Production Of Child Sex Abuse Material And Enticement Of Minors December 20, 2024 - Extradited Canadian National Sentenced To Life In Federal Prison for producing child sexual abuse material and enticement of a minor [3] [1] https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndny/pr/canadian-man-sentenced-188-months-attempted-online-enticement-minor-and-possessing https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndny/pr/canadian-man-sentenced-... [2] https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/canadian-national-extradited-united-states-pleads-guilty-production-child-sex-abuse https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/canadian-national-extra... [3] https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/extradited-canadian-national-sentenced-life-federal-prison https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/extradited-canadian-nat...
- maerF0x0 11mo ago
  > Cross-border collaboration is a good thing IMO it's only a good thing when it's a good thing. There are plenty of reasons it could be a bad thing too. For example, Edward Snowden probably would have been hung by now if russia cross-border collaborated.

mystraline 11mo ago

The term that Cory Doctorow has called these styles of stunts is: Felony contempt of business model. Turns out, our very user, Saurik, came up with this term! https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/23/how-to-fix-cars-by-breaking-felony-contempt-of-business-model/ https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/23/how-to-fix-cars-by-breaki...