harassment subpoena
Gmail harassment and IP address
<p>Under what circumstances will the police subpoena Gmail for an IP address?</p>

<p>I have been harassed by my ex girlfriend but it has stopped a few months ago. She has not so much harassed me as she harassed my other ex girlfriend and my ex wife. I have recently gone on a dating site and started chatting to this woman. I told this woman about my ex and she emailed my ex to try make peace. I think this woman I was chatting is actually my ex trying to get information.</p>

<p>If I go to the police will they do anything? I have also gotten an email from my ex's husband where he says that I must stop lying to this woman I'm chatting to on the date site. The date site woman never contacted me again and blocked me after my ex told her I was lying.</p>

<p>Law enforcement only investigates <em>crimes</em>, and they have significant discretion regarding which crimes to investigate.  If they considered a crime to have occurred in your case, they could certainly seek a court <em>warrant</em> requiring Google to turn over IP addresses.</p>

<p>More likely, you might have standing to seek relief in civil courts.  In such a case, you could try to get the civil court to issue a <em>subpoena</em> for a third party like Google to provide IP addresses.  Of course, you could have your civil suit contested by the counterparty, and even if not the court may decline to issue a subpoena, and if even if it issues one the third party may object to the court, or simply decline to comply with it.</p>
