The interesting question is how and when mail providers such as Gmail accept warrants issued by other countries. From some articles I've read in the past it seems that such warrants are accepted by Google - which does also make sense, as Google needs to adhere to local laws (at least if they have offices in a given country).
But when do Google or other mail providers comply to such a requests? Each time a warrant is issued by any (more or less) democratic country (also if I have no relation to the country issuing the warrant)? Only if I've chosen the given country as my home country during registration? If I've used an IP address of a given country in the past?
This question is especially important, as the standards for warrants between countries differ. For some countries (such as Germany) it seems to be sufficient to be suspected for illegal filesharing in order for a court to issue a warrant for a "house search".
Thanks for the link. Unfortunately it doesn't state under what conditions Google complies with requests:
"The “data requests” numbers reflect the number of requests we received about the users of our services and products from government agencies like local and federal police. They don’t indicate whether we complied with a request for data in any way. When we receive a request for user information, we review it carefully and only provide information within the scope and authority of the request. We may refuse to produce information or try to narrow the request in some cases."
That shows where requests come from. It doesn't explain the rules on when a given jurisdiction can make a request about someone who might or might not be in that jurisdiction.
But when do Google or other mail providers comply to such a requests? Each time a warrant is issued by any (more or less) democratic country (also if I have no relation to the country issuing the warrant)? Only if I've chosen the given country as my home country during registration? If I've used an IP address of a given country in the past?
This question is especially important, as the standards for warrants between countries differ. For some countries (such as Germany) it seems to be sufficient to be suspected for illegal filesharing in order for a court to issue a warrant for a "house search".