Legal Guidelines

Requesting Private Information of WP-Cookie.com Users

Our users place their trust in us to keep them safe, and, in some cases, anonymous. We view safeguarding that trust and protecting our users’ private information is vital to what we do. WP Cookie receives requests for information about WP-Cookie.com users, sites, and accounts from government agencies, law enforcement, private parties, and individuals or corporations involved in civil lawsuits. Before revealing any non-public information about a site, an account, or a user, we require a valid subpoena, search warrant, or court order. The only exception is when we have a good faith belief that there is an emergency involving imminent danger of death or serious physical injury.

If your inquiry or request brings to our attention a violation of our policies or Terms of Service, we will address it per our usual procedure. This may or may not include contacting the user, removing content, or suspending the site entirely.

More information about our procedures is below.

Denmarks Legal Process

We require any subpoena, search warrant, court order, or judgment to be issued by a Danish authority in compliance with the Danish Rules of Criminal Procedure. We respond to court judgments from Denmark only, or foreign judgments specifically adopted by a Danish court. Throughout these Legal Guidelines, wherever we talk about a subpoena, search warrant, court order, or judgment, this is what we are referring to.

What Information Do We Have?

WP-Cookie.com has certain information relating to users, sites, and commenters. WP-Cookie.com accounts contain various information that is provided at a user’s discretion and is unverified. The following is a summary of the information that we may collect and store.

  1. Basic account information, such as:
  • Name
  • Email address
  • Website
  • Phone number
  1. Transaction and/or billing information (if services or licenses have been purchased).

We will generally retain transaction and/or billing information until changed or removed by the user (if it’s possible to do so). We also collect log data, which may include a user’s IP address, browser type, and operating system. We keep this information for up to 30 days as a matter of course, absent a valid preservation request. You can read more about how we handle preservation requests under “Preservation Requests for WP-Cookie.com Sites” below.

We may retain the above information, even if a comment or request is deleted. Deleted posts remain in a user’s trash folder for 30 days, after which point our servers may retain a backup for an additional 60 days.

  1. Information on commenters on WP-Cookie.com sites.

We retain commenter information unless the owner of the site on which the comment appears deletes the comment.

Requests from Government Agencies/Law Enforcement

We do not voluntarily provide governments with access to data about users for any reason, including for the purposes of law enforcement, intelligence gathering, or other surveillance. As noted above, we only provide information to third parties after receiving a valid subpoena, search warrant, or court order, in each case issued by a Danish authority in compliance with Denmark Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.. The only exception is for emergency requests by law enforcement where we have a good faith belief that the information is necessary to prevent imminent danger of death or serious physical injury. In response to a valid subpoena issued by a Danish authority, we can provide the following information, when it is available:

  • First and last names
  • Phone number
  • Email address currently assigned to a site owner
  • Date/time stamped IP address from which a site was created
  • Physical address provided by the user
  • PayPal or Stripe transaction information

We require a specific court order or search warrant before providing additional IP address data or information relating to a specific post or a specific comment.

Emergency Requests from Law Enforcement

As permitted by Danish law, we may disclose user information to government or law enforcement agencies – without a subpoena, search warrant, or court order – if we have a good faith belief that an emergency involving imminent danger of death or serious physical injury requires disclosure of information related to the emergency without delay.

Requests in Civil Cases

In a civil matter, it is our policy to turn over private user information only upon receipt of either (1) a valid order from a court in Denmark; or (2) a subpoena served from a court in Denmark. Requests must identify the specific information sought. Any request for specific post or comment information must include the specific URL of each post or comment. Please note that we charge an administrative fee of EUR €150/hour for compliance with validly issued and served civil subpoenas and court orders. We will bill for and collect this fee prior to furnishing information in response.

Notification to WP-Cookie.com Users and Transparency

We aim for total transparency with our users when legal requests for information or complaints affect their sites, accounts, or information. It is our policy to notify users and provide them with a copy of any legal requests regarding their account, unless we are prohibited from doing so by a court order issued in Denmark. When the prohibition from notifying users expires, we will notify users and provide them with a copy of the legal process at that time. If a request for information is validly issued, as described above in these Legal Guidelines, we will preserve the necessary information before informing the user of the request. In most cases, upon notification to the user of the request for information, that user will be provided with either 7 days or the amount of time before the information is due, whichever is later, during which time the user may attempt to quash or legally challenge the request. If, prior to the deadline, we receive notice from the user that he or she intends to challenge a request for information, we will not deliver any information until that process concludes. We also review the information requests received and may lodge our own challenge to the scope or validity of legal process received, on behalf of a user, whether or not the user pursues his/her own legal challenge.

Preservation Requests for WP-Cookie.com Sites by Government and Law Enforcement Agencies

It is our policy to notify users and provide them with a copy of any legal requests regarding their account or site, unless we are prohibited from doing so by a valid court order issued in Denmark, as described in the sections below. Our policy of notifying users about requests to preserve their information is meant to protect user privacy and promote transparency, while also avoiding interference with legitimate investigations of criminal activity. Preservation requests may only be submitted by government and law enforcement agencies conducting a criminal investigation in which the information sought is relevant. We will preserve records for 90 days in response to a valid request, which the government or law enforcement agency can extend upon request. We will only consider such requests if the government’s request meets our criteria for authenticity, necessity, and timeliness, and only for the period of time necessary for the agency to obtain a court-issued nondisclosure order.

Withdrawing Requests

If a legal request is formally withdrawn before we provide user information in response to a valid subpoena, search warrant, or court order, we will not notify the user if requested to keep the withdrawn legal process confidential.

Wrongdoing Against WP Cookie

If we receive information indicating that someone is using WP-Cookie.com or any of our services to engage in crime against WP Cookie or its subsidiaries, where we are the victim, we will not inspect a user’s non-public content ourselves. Instead, we may report the matter to the appropriate authorities.

Serving Process on WP-Cookie.com and Making Inquiries

Any request for user information must include a valid email address for us to return the information or contact with questions. We are unable to process overly broad or vague requests for information. To obtain information for a specific post or comment, the URL of that post or comment must be included in the request.  WP-Cookie.com communicates only via email. Where permitted, we accept service via email to legal@wp-cookie.com. Legal process can also be served by mail to: WP Cookie by Web Coders ApS. Tybrindvej 10, 5592 Husby, Denmark.

Requests for Takedown of Content

WP-Cookie.com strongly believes in freedom of speech. We have a vast audience spread across many cultures, countries, and backgrounds with varying values, and our service is designed to let users freely express themselves. When we receive a request to take down content, we review those complaints very carefully.

Reporting Terms of Service Violations

If you believe that a site is violating our Terms of Service, please refer to the information on this page to submit a report, and we will take action as appropriate. Regardless of whether or not we take action, we may forward a copy of the complaint to the site owner. We do not remove content based on disputes over the content on a site or in a comment, unless the information sought to be removed is subject to an order issued by a court in Denmark. We are not in a position to determine if something posted on a WP-Cookie.com site is defamatory or not. If we receive such a complaint, we defer to the judgment of a court in Denmark.

Enforcing Protection Orders Against WP-Cookie.com Users

WP-Cookie.com is not responsible for enforcing protection orders that apply to users on our service. If you have an active protection order that may apply to a WP-Cookie.com user, or if you represent a client who does, please contact the appropriate court or law enforcement agency for assistance.

A Note on Back Doors and Encryption

We furnish user information to third parties via the processes described in these Legal Guidelines. We do not provide access to user data through “back doors” in our systems. Similarly, we support and promote the encryption of user data. We encrypt all traffic (serve over SSL) for all WP-Cookie.com sites, by default. Some governments have recently sought to weaken encryption in the name of law enforcement. We disagree with these suggestions and do not believe that it is feasible to include any deliberate security weaknesses or other back doors in encryption technologies, even if “only” for the benefit of law enforcement. As a wise man said, “there is no such thing as a vulnerability in technology that can only be used by nice people doing the right thing in accord with the rule of law.” We agree wholeheartedly.

Document history
Effective Date: 30. June 2020