Maine Revised Statutes Title 15 Sec. 56 – Service of criminal process on providers of electronic communication service or providers of remote computing service
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The following provisions apply to a service of criminal process on an electronic communication service provider and a remote computing service provider that are domestic or foreign entities. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
1. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following words have the following meanings.
A. “Adverse result” means:
(1) Immediate danger of death or serious physical injury to any person;
(2) Flight from prosecution;
(3) Destruction of or tampering with evidence;
(4) Intimidation of a potential witness;
(5) Seriously jeopardizing an investigation; or
(6) Undue delay of a trial. [PL 2019, c. 489, §1 (AMD).]
B. “Applicant” means a law enforcement officer who has applied for or received a search warrant pursuant to section 55 or this section. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
C. “Content information,” when used with respect to any wire or electronic communication, includes any information concerning the substance, purport or meaning of that communication. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
D. “Court” means the Superior Court or the District Court. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
E. “Criminal process” means a search warrant issued pursuant to Title 5, section 113; section 55; or this section, or a grand jury subpoena issued pursuant to Rule 17 or 17A of the Maine Rules of Unified Criminal Procedure and this section. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
F. “Domestic entity” means an entity whose internal affairs are governed by the laws of this State. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
G. “Electronic communication service” means a service that provides to users the ability to send or receive spoken, wire or electronic communications. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
H. “Electronic communication service provider” means an entity that provides electronic communication service to the general public. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
I. “Entity” means an entity as defined in Title 5, section 102, subsection 7. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
J. “Foreign entity” means an entity other than a domestic entity. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
K. “Location information” means information concerning the location of an electronic device, including both the current location and any prior location of the device, that, in whole or in part, is generated, derived from or obtained by the operation of an electronic device. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
L. “Properly served” means that a search warrant or grand jury subpoena has been:
(1) Delivered by hand, or in a manner reasonably allowing for proof of delivery if delivered by United States mail, overnight delivery service or facsimile to a commercial clerk or commercial registered agent as provided in Title 5, section 106; Title 5, section 107, subsection 4; or this section;
(2) Delivered by specific means identified by the provider for service of criminal process, including, but not limited to, e-mail, facsimile or submission via an Internet web portal; or
(3) Delivered to the provider’s place of business within the State.
If service is made pursuant to subparagraph (1) or (3) and the provider promptly notifies the law enforcement agency of the specific means of service identified by the provider pursuant to subparagraph (2) for criminal process, service must be made by the means of service specified by the provider if possible. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
M. “Provider” means an electronic communication service provider or a remote computing service provider. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
N. “Remote computing service” means computing storage or processing services provided by means of an electronic communication service. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
O. “Remote computing service provider” means an entity that provides remote computing service to the general public. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
[PL 2019, c. 489, §1 (AMD).]
Terms Used In Maine Revised Statutes Title 15 Sec. 56
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
- in writing: include printing and other modes of making legible words. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
- United States: includes territories and the District of Columbia. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
2. Requirements applicable to a foreign entity provider. The following provisions apply to criminal process issued pursuant to this section that requires a search for records that are in the possession or control of a foreign entity provider when those records would reveal the identity of a customer using services, data stored by or on behalf of a customer, a customer’s usage of the service, the recipient or destination of communications sent to or from a customer, content information or location information.
A. A foreign entity provider served with a search warrant pursuant to this section shall produce to the applicant all records sought, including those records maintained or located outside this State, within 14 days of service. The 14 days may be extended by the court as follows:
(1) By the 10th day following service, the foreign entity provider in writing or electronically must notify the law enforcement officer who served the warrant that producing all the records within 14 days is not practicable, the reasons why compliance is not practicable and the date by which the foreign entity provider will complete the production; and
(2) The law enforcement officer shall file a notice with the court of the reasons under subparagraph (1).
If the court finds that good cause exists for the delay, the court may extend the 14-day period to the date of production specified by the foreign entity provider and the provider is prohibited from asserting that the warrant has expired. For purposes of this paragraph, good cause includes, but is not limited to, impracticability of timely response, difficulty of identifying and retrieving the data requested and the volume of data or number of sources sought. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
B. A foreign entity provider served with a grand jury subpoena pursuant to this section shall produce to the prosecutor or grand jury all records sought, including those records maintained or located outside this State, by or at the time of the grand jury appearance. The grand jury subpoena must include the address of the prosecutor or grand jury to which the provider must produce the records. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
C. A foreign entity provider shall verify the authenticity of records that it produces by providing an affidavit that complies with the requirements set forth in the Maine Rules of Evidence, Rule 902(11) if the foreign entity that is the provider of services is governed by the laws of another state and that complies with the requirements set forth in the Maine Rules of Evidence, Rule 902(12) if the foreign entity that is the provider of services is governed by the laws of a foreign country. Admissibility of these records in a court in this State is governed by the Maine Rules of Evidence, Rule 803(6). [PL 2017, c. 377, §1 (AMD).]
D. A foreign entity provider that produces records or testifies pursuant to this subsection is immune from criminal or civil liability for the release of the requested information to the court, attorney for the State or law enforcement agency involved in the investigation. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
[PL 2017, c. 377, §1 (AMD).]
3. Requirements applicable to a domestic entity provider. The following provisions apply to criminal process issued pursuant to this section that requires a search for records that are in the possession or control of a domestic entity provider when those records would reveal the identity of a customer using services, data stored by or on behalf of a customer, a customer’s usage of the service, the recipient or destination of communications sent to or from a customer, content information or location information.
A. A domestic entity provider, when served with criminal process issued by another state to produce records that would reveal the identity of a customer using services, data stored by or on behalf of a customer, a customer’s usage of the service, the recipient or destination of communications sent to or from a customer, content information or location information, shall produce those records as if that criminal process had been issued by a court in this State. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
B. A domestic entity provider served with a search warrant pursuant to this section shall produce to the applicant all records sought, including those records maintained or located outside this State, within 14 days of service. The 14-day period may be extended by the court as follows:
(1) By the 10th day following service, the domestic entity provider in writing or electronically must notify the law enforcement officer who served the warrant that producing all the records within 14 days is not practicable, the reasons why compliance is not practicable and the date by which the domestic entity provider will complete the production; and
(2) The law enforcement officer shall file a notice with the court of the reasons under subparagraph (1).
If the court finds that good cause exists for the delay, the court may extend the 14-day period to the date of production specified by the domestic entity provider and the provider is prohibited from asserting that the warrant has expired. For purposes of this paragraph, good cause includes, but is not limited to, impracticability of timely response, difficulty of identifying and retrieving the data requested and the volume of data or number of sources sought. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
C. A domestic entity provider served with a grand jury subpoena pursuant to this section shall produce to the prosecutor or grand jury all records sought, including those records maintained or located outside this State, by or at the time of the grand jury appearance. The grand jury subpoena must include the address of the prosecutor or grand jury to which the provider must produce the records. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
D. A domestic entity provider shall verify the authenticity of records that it produces by providing an affidavit that complies with the requirements set forth in the Maine Rules of Evidence, Rule 902(11) or on a form provided by the requesting jurisdiction. Admissibility of these records in a court in this State is governed by the Maine Rules of Evidence, Rule 803(6). [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
E. A domestic entity provider that produces records or testifies pursuant to this subsection is immune from criminal or civil liability for the release of the requested information to the court, attorney for the State or law enforcement agency involved in the investigation. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
[PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
4. Application for expedited production of records. Notwithstanding the 14-day period specified in subsection 2 or 3 for production of the records, if an applicant for a search warrant believes that delaying production is reasonably likely to cause an adverse result, the applicant may request that the court require the production of the records sooner than 14 days after service pursuant to this subsection.
A. The applicant shall demonstrate to the court the specific adverse result or results, as specified in subsection 1, paragraph A, subparagraphs (1) to (6), that delaying production for 14 days is reasonably likely to cause. [PL 2019, c. 489, §2 (AMD).]
B. If the court finds that the delay may cause an adverse result, the court shall state the adverse result specified in subsection 1, paragraph A, subparagraphs (1) to (6) and may require the provider to produce the records in a specified number of days. [PL 2019, c. 489, §2 (AMD).]
C. If the court specifies that the provider has less than 14 days to produce the record and the adverse result finding is listed in subsection 1, paragraph A, subparagraphs (1) to (4), the provider must respond within the time specified by the court. [PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW).]
D. If the court specifies that the provider has less than 14 days to produce the record and the only adverse result findings are results listed in subsection 1, paragraph A, subparagraphs (5) and (6), the provider must notify the law enforcement officer serving the warrant that compliance within that period specified by the court is not practicable and must state the date within 14 days from service by which the provider will respond. The law enforcement officer shall file the provider’s response with the court, and, upon a demonstration of good cause by the provider, the response period may be extended by the court to no more than 14 days from the date of service of the warrant. As used in this paragraph, good cause includes, but is not limited to, impracticability of timely response, difficulty of identifying and retrieving the data requested and the volume of data or number of sources sought. [PL 2019, c. 489, §2 (AMD).]
[PL 2019, c. 489, §2 (AMD).]
SECTION HISTORY
PL 2017, c. 144, §3 (NEW). PL 2017, c. 377, §1 (AMD). PL 2019, c. 489, §§1, 2 (AMD).