I have a question about these sites that can keep records up to 2 years. Why is it okay for the district attorney to subpeona records of a person's private advertising? Most of the ads have a girls true identity. What is the legal means for them to obtain this info and what, if anything, can be done to prevent it?
1. If the DA is investigating a crime, such as pandering, pimping or solicitation, the right to subpoena is available through law.
2. Nothing.
If the fact that the ads are "private" meant that they could not be subpoenaed, then subpoenas would become pretty meaningless. After all, if the information is public then the D.A. can get it on his own.
A prosecutor can subpoena pretty much anyone or anything he wants, so long as he can demonstrate that the subpoena is reasonably likely to lead him to admissible evidence in an ongoing case. It is not necessary that records turned over by the subpoenaed entity be admissible in court; the prosecutor need only show that the records reasonably might help find other information which could eventually lead to admissible evidence.
When an organization receives a subpoena for private records of an individual, it is supposed to notify that individual so that he or she can challenge the subpoena in court. (I should add that subpoenas generally allow at least ten days before the records must be produced, and this time provides an opportunity for the people whose privacy is at stake to bring a challenge.)
If a web site receives a subpoena it must comply unless the court or the D.A. say otherwise. If the site properly notifies the lady or ladies involved and they don't challenge the subpoenas, then the site is off the hook. The same is true if the ladies do bring a challenge and fail.
The site could open itself up to a civil lawsuit if it fails to properly notify the ladies involved or if it turns over records when it has been notified by the D.A. or the court that it should not. However, disreagarding the subpoena is a very bad idea, as the site and its key personnel could be held in contempt and, under some circumstances, could even be prosecuted.
...the entity providing the online ad space plainly and publicly documents that they keep *no* permanent records whatsoever on any individual placing an ad, and they strictly adhere to that policy? Does this give them any protection in telling the DA that they don't have and can't produce the info for which they are being subpoenaed?
I just saw ths message for the first time. Sorry I didn't answer it sooner.
A person or business that has no records obviously can't produce them in response to a subpoena, regardless of whether it broadcasts this policy or not. Responses to a subpoena have to be signed under penalty of perjury and if the response does not seem credible, the prosecutor might take a more active interest.