Internet Service Providers and Search Warrants

Abstract Internet service providers (ISPs) offer a key role in cyberspace, providing Internet capabilities and e-mail services to the public, government, and industry. The courts are still refining the legal status of ISPs. A recent column (ISS, November/December 2002) discussed the role of an ISP when its subscribers write libelous materials about outside parties. This column evaluates how an ISP must react when the activities of one of its customers are subject to the terms of a court-ordered search warrant.