General

For any general legal inquiries, please send via email to legal@stackoverflow.com.

Government Request Guidelines

At Stack, we take the privacy of our users, customers, and our Stackers seriously. Stack will not share personal or account information without express consent from our affected employees, users, customers, or customer’s users, except under limited circumstances when required by law or properly served legal process. These Government Request Guidelines are intended for use by law enforcement and government agencies to address routine information requests, including subpoenas, court orders, search warrants, and other government issued compulsory information requests (referred to herein as “Government Request(s)”).

Please note that these guidelines are not intended to manage requests for information from our users, customer or customer’s users, civil litigants, or criminal defendants, and such requests will not be processed in accordance with these Government Request Guidelines.

If you have any questions, please contact us at legal@stackoverflow.com.

Service of Process Requirements

Stack requires that service of process be made in accordance and compliance with applicable laws. We will accept service of process via (i) email (to legal@stackoverflow.com) or (ii) physical copy (see service address below). Stack’s acceptance of service by email is deemed proper service and the requestor will not have any claim against us based on our acceptance of service by email in accordance with these Government Request Guidelines. Further, acceptance of service by either of these means is for convenience and does not waive any right to objection, including objections with respect to lack of jurisdiction or improper service.

If your jurisdiction permits service of process via mail, the subpoena may be mailed to the following address:

Attn: Legal Department Stack Exchange, Inc. 14 Wall Street, 20th Floor New York, NY 10005

Necessary Information

The following information is required for Stack to fulfill any valid and enforceable Government Request compelling us to produce the requested information:

• Name and contact information of the individual agency or government representative who is authorized to serve the request, including email address, as production is typically sent electronically.
• Detailed description of the information being requested and a specific date range applicable to the information being requested.
• Sufficient identifying information regarding the subject for whom the Government Request is being issued, such that we can timely and effectively identify the subject at issue (e.g., email address, account identifier, etc.).

Legal Request Requirements

Stack discloses information solely in accordance with our Terms of Service, Privacy Policies, and applicable law. As a US based company, Stack requires US law enforcement and government agencies to adhere to US laws when issuing Government Requests to Stack. This includes, but is not limited to, the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2712, et seq. (“SCA”), to the extent applicable.

While the SCA mandates that we disclose certain account records only in response to specific types of legal process, including subpoenas, court orders, and search warrants, a valid search warrant issued under the procedures described in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure or equivalent state warrant procedures, to include a showing of probable cause, is required to compel us to provide the contents of communications sent or received through our products or services.

Intent to Disclose Notification

In accordance with Stack’s Privacy Policy and where applicable law or the Government Request does not expressly prohibit us from doing so, we will use reasonable efforts to provide notice to the applicable end user or customer when we receive a Government Request that pertains to them.

If the requestor does not want Stack to provide notice of the request, the requestor should include a non-disclosure order or a reference to the legal authority that bars us from disclosing having received the request.

Compliance

Stack employs internal processes and exercises reasonable efforts which typically allow for responses to valid and enforceable Government Requests to be issued within two business weeks. However, it should be noted that response times will depend on the breadth and scope of the request. We are unable to process overly broad or vague requests. Any request that requires an expedited response should be clearly stated in the requesting documentation and the formal request itself.

In instances where an intent to disclose notification is legally permitted and/or contractually required, Stack will not immediately produce the requested information and the intended subject or corporate entity shall have five business days to notify us of their intent to (i) quash the subpoena or warrant in court or (ii) take other legal action.

Additionally, Stack reserves the right, but is not obligated, to challenge the validity of any Government Request and/or the service thereof or take such legal action to move to quash or obtain a court order to relieve us of our obligation to respond.

Emergency Considerations

In the case where Stack may have information pertaining to an emergency where there is an emergency posing a threat of imminent of death or serious physical injury to a person, and an immediate good faith disclosure of such information may prevent or otherwise report the occurrence, we may disclose such information to law enforcement in accordance with our Privacy Policy and/or applicable law (e.g., 18 U.S.C. §§ 2702(b)(8) and 2702(c)(4)).

Child Safety Considerations

Stack, in our discretion and in accordance with our terms and applicable law, will report apparent instances of child exploitation and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) detected on our services to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), including content drawn to our attention by law enforcement.

EU Digital Services Act (DSA)

The following are required for Stack to fulfill any valid and enforceable request by EU authorities (the European Commission, the European Board for Digital Services, and EU Member State authorities) submitting an order in accordance with the DSA (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065) or other DSA related request.

EU authorities can contact Stack's designated point of contact by submitting an email in English or including an English translation to dsa-legal@stackoverflow.com.

For the purposes of Article 13 of the DSA, Stack's EU legal representative is:

The MD Stack Overflow GMBH HRB 234500 3 Frieslandstraat, Amsterdam email: privacy@stackoverflow.com phone: +44 (0) 20 3349 1000

Preservation Requests

While Stack does not guarantee the existence or retention of particular user information, we will preserve user information in our possession in response to a formal, authorized, and enforceable request from a law enforcement agency that meets the following requirements:

• Include name and contact information of the individual agency or government representative who is authorized to serve the request.
• Provide a detailed description of the information being requested (limited to only that user information which you intend to obtain through a legal process to receive via a subsequent Government Request) and a specific date range applicable to the information being requested.
• Contain sufficient identifying information regarding the subject for whom the Government Request is being issued, such that we can timely and effectively identify the subject at issue (e.g., email address, account identifier, etc.).

We will attempt to preserve the requested information associated with a valid and enforceable Government Request for up to 90 days and will extend the preservation for one additional 90-day period upon an appropriate request.

Updates to the Policy

Stack may modify or update this Notice, such as to comply with applicable data protection laws or regulations. If we make material changes and have retained your email address in compliance with this Notice, we will notify you of the change.

Other Information

We reserve the right to charge reasonable administrative fees (unless otherwise prohibited by law) for the production of documents in response to any subpoena. In such instances where a fee applies, we will typically issue an invoice to you with the production, payable within 30 days.