To obtain evidence in civil and criminal cyber cases, a court order requesting Internet records has to be served to the respective Internet provider. For a user of yahoo– subpoena IP address and other pertinent Internet records have to be obtained from Yahoo. Indeed, a subpoena is the only legal way of getting a person Internet Protocol address whether he or she is anonymous or not.

There are various reasons for a person to want to get the Internet Protocol address of someone. However, to be able to serve a yahoo– subpoena IP address, there must be a lawsuit filed prior to a subpoena is issued. It is not possible for claimants to just subpoena a website to get information without filing a civil or a criminal lawsuit. According to the law, only a court or a grand jury can issue a subpoena requesting personal information on a third party which implies that a lawsuit or litigation is imperative.

When a surfer visits a website or opens an Internet account, the user has an identity that includes an Internet Protocol address, an email address and other identifying elements that are protected by privacy laws. Yahoo like other Internet Service Providers has terms and conditions available online including their privacy policy. Hence, in instances of cyber criminality such as defamation, libel and slander, the criminals leave traces that make possible to retrace them. However, given that the information is protected by privacy policies, it is only when a yahoo– subpoena IP address is served that the Internet provider will disclose the information.

When a court-ordered subpoena is issued, usually it is limited to certain type of information. For example, claimants cannot subpoena for contents of emails and other correspondences. According to the privacy laws, content of private communications are protected even with a subpoena and other court orders. With a yahoo– subpoena IP address, the Internet provider will produce highly technical information on the website and/or blog. For example, an Internet Provider address in the following format: 76.185.15.95.

With the Internet Protocol code, the claimant will be able to find out which Internet Service Provider has this Internet Protocol address. The subpoenaed records from a website like Yahoo will include the records as illustrated below. All the information listed will help identify that Road Runner is the Internet Service Provider:

Decimal:          1287196511

Hostname:       cpe-76-185-15-95.tx.res.rr.com

Organization:  Road Runner

ISP:                 Road Runner

Type:               Broadband

Services:          None detected

Assignment:    Dynamic IP

Blacklist:         Geolocation Information

Country:          United States us flag

State/Region:  Texas

City:                Grand Prairie

Latitude:         32.7199

Longitude:      96.9905

Area Code:      972

Once the Internet Service Provider has been identified, the latter can be forced to turn over the identity of the subscriber that uses the particular Internet Provider address.

Hence, a victim of either defamation or libel or slander on the web needs to systematically file a lawsuit to be able to identify the criminal. He or she with the help of an attorney needs to build a solid dossier to prove to the court the imperative to serve a Yahoo— subpoena IP address.