Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, deposited a brief To the Supreme Court of the United States questioning the legality of the sending of “broad and suspicion” of data to the exchanges of crypto such as Coinbase and other companies.
Many crypto exchanges have been affected by these types of requests, called “John Doe” requests. And it was not limited to Coinbase: Crator Crypto Exchange Kraken and Stablecoin USDC transmitter Circle received them in 2021.
The thesis has been deposited in support of the case of James Harper, who is locked in a legal battle with the IRS since 2020. Harper’s civil affair Opposed to the IRS using an assignment to obtain three years of transaction files concerning more than 14,000 customers of Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase, including itself.
The argument depends on the fourth amendment to the American Constitution, which protects individuals against searches and unreasonable seizures by the governmentMake sure that mandates are only delivered when the government can prove a probable cause and provides specific details.
Friday filed the memory of the lawyer for X, asks if these protections of the fourth amendment allow “research without mandate of customer files held by third party service providers if the files are contractually held by the customer” and “if these recordings allow monitoring of future behavior”.
The thesis says that “Mr. Harper’s contract with the exchange clearly indicated that the files belonged to him and that the exchange would protect his private life”.
In particular, the brief focuses on what is called “Tierce“, A legal precedent established in the 1970s which can allow these types of invasive data requests – as long as they are directed to a third party, rather than a particular private individual.
For example, the application of “third -party doctrine” could allow the government to access an individual’s banking files, which he gave his consent to the bank to access, without a mandate, but not the papers stored at their home.
A decision by the Supreme Court in favor of Mr. Harper would strengthen legal protections against data demands from all American companies, outside the cryptography industry, including X. But the Supreme Court, the final court of appeal, has not yet agreed to hear James Harper’s affair.
Although the outcome of the case may have an impact on X fortune, the third party doctrine had Many criticisms of independent legal academics Who think this is exceeded in today’s digital age. There have also been judges who ruled against Tierce doctrine when it comes to accessing the geolocation data of smartphones and intelligent domestic devices.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
Daily debriefing Bulletin
Start every day with the best reports at the moment, as well as original features, a podcast, videos and more.
