Case 2:17-mc-00145-RSL Document 24 Filed 11/30/18 Page 1 of 4 1 The Honorable Robert S. Lasnik 2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 3 4 5 6 IN RE: PETITION OF INDEX 8 NEWSPAPERS LLC d/b/a THE STRANGER TO UNSEAL 9 ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE 10 DOCKETS, APPLICATIONS AND ORDERS 11 7 CASE NO. 2:17-MC-00145-RSL JOINT STATUS REPORT 12 The Petitioner, Index Newspapers LLC d/b/a The Stranger, by and through its 13 14 attorneys of record Geoffrey M. Godfrey and Aaron Mackey, and the United States 15 Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, by and through Helen J. 16 Brunner, First Assistant United States Attorney, and Teal Luthy Miller, Assistant 17 United States Attorney, file this status report as required by the Court’s October 2, 2018, 18 order. 19 1. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington 20 and the Clerk of the Court for the Western District of Washington have completed but not 21 yet signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a two-year pilot program governing the 22 procedures by which the United States Attorney’s Office seeks, and the Clerk of the 23 Court dockets, orders authorizing the use of certain investigative processes so as to make 24 more information about the use of those processes available prospectively through reports 25 created from the PACER system. The Memorandum governs how the United States 26 Attorney’s Office will submit applications for orders under the Pen Register Act, 27 18 U.S.C. §§ 3123, 3124, authorizing the installation and use of a pen register or a trap28 and-trace device and requiring a third party to assist with a pen register or a trap-andJOINT STATUS REPORT - 1 In re: Petition of Index Newspapers 2:17-MC-00145-RSL UNITED STATES ATTORNEY 700 STEWART STREET, SUITE 5220 SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101 (206) 553-7970 Case 2:17-mc-00145-RSL Document 24 Filed 11/30/18 Page 2 of 4 1 trace device to obtain prospective dialing/signaling information for a mobile device, 2 email and/or social media account (“PR/TT orders”); orders under the Stored 3 Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2703(b), 2705, requiring service providers to provide 4 law enforcement with subscriber information and other non-content information or 5 records pertaining to the subscriber or customer for one or more of these accounts, and 6 prohibiting the provider from disclosing such order to the customer for a period of time 7 (“2703(d) orders”); and applications that seek both a PR/TT order and a 2703(d) order, 8 collectively referred to here as “PT Applications and Orders.” 9 2. Attorneys from the United States Attorney’s Office have also met with the 10 Clerk of the Court and members of his staff to discuss changes that would be necessary to 11 the applications presented by the United States and the docketing procedures used by the 12 Clerk’s office in order to implement the Memorandum. The Clerk of the Court will 13 create a new docketing category—the PT category—and plans to file PT Applications 14 and Orders in that new category beginning on January 1, 2019. 15 3. Beginning on January 1, 2020, the Clerk will generate semi-annual reports 16 reflecting the docket numbers and case captions associated with PT Applications and 17 Orders. These reports will be made publicly available on January 1 and July 1 of each 18 year in electronic form on the Court’s website in a PT docket report. The PT docket 19 report will contain docket numbers and case captions for PT Applications and Orders for 20 these types of orders filed during the six-month period ending six months before the 21 issuance of the report. The principal statute under investigation will be included in the 22 semi-annual PT docket reports, except where a citation to the statute is omitted from the 23 caption of an application to protect an investigation. 24 4. In order to facilitate the Clerk’s efforts to create the semi-annual reports on 25 the PT Applications and Orders filed in this district, the United States Attorney’s Office 26 will standardize the captions used for applications in this area. The United States 27 Attorney’s Office will begin using the standardized captions on January 1, 2019. 28 JOINT STATUS REPORT - 2 In re: Petition of Index Newspapers 2:17-MC-00145-RSL UNITED STATES ATTORNEY 700 STEWART STREET, SUITE 5220 SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101 (206) 553-7970 Case 2:17-mc-00145-RSL Document 24 Filed 11/30/18 Page 3 of 4 1 5. On November 29, 2018, the United States Attorney’s Office shared the 2 Memorandum with counsel for Petitioner. 3 6. Counsel for Petitioner needs additional time to review the Memorandum 4 with their client and to confer with the United States Attorney’s Office regarding the next 5 steps for this action. Accordingly, the parties jointly request an order extending until 6 January 11, 2019, the stay previously entered by the Court in this matter. The parties 7 shall, on or before that date, provide a joint status report indicating whether an extension 8 of the stay is needed, whether resolution of the petition on its merits is necessary, or 9 whether a status conference is appropriate. 10 DATED this 30th day of November, 2018. 11 ANNETTE L. HAYES 12 13 14 15 16 17 United States Attorney s/Teal Luthy Miller TEAL LUTHY MILLER Assistant United States Attorney Western District of Washington 700 Stewart Street, Suite 5220 Seattle, Washington 98101 (206) 553-7970 18 Counsel for Index Newspapers LLC s/Geoffrey M. Godfrey GEOFFREY M. GODFREY DORSEY & WHITNEY LLP 701 Fifth Avenue, Suite 6100 Seattle, WA 98104-7043 Phone: (206) 903-8800 Fax: (206) 903-8820 E-mail: godfrey.geoff@dorsey.com s/Nathan T. Alexander NATHAN T. ALEXANDER DORSEY & WHITNEY LLP 701 Fifth Avenue, Suite 6100 Seattle, WA 98104-7043 Phone: (206) 903-8800 Fax: (206) 903-8820 E-mail: alexander.nathan@dorsey.com 19 20 21 22 23 s/Aaron Mackey Aaron Mackey (pro hac vice) ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION 815 Eddy Street San Francisco, CA 94109 Telephone: (415) 436-9333 amackey@eff.org 24 25 26 27 28 JOINT STATUS REPORT - 3 In re: Petition of Index Newspapers 2:17-MC-00145-RSL UNITED STATES ATTORNEY 700 STEWART STREET, SUITE 5220 SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101 (206) 553-7970 Case 2:17-mc-00145-RSL Document 24 Filed 11/30/18 Page 4 of 4 1 2 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on November 30, 2018, I electronically filed the foregoing 3 with the Clerk of Court using the CM/ECF system which will send notification of such 4 filing to the attorneys of record. 5 6 s/ Elisa G. Skinner ELISA G. SKINNER Paralegal Specialist United States Attorney’s Office 700 Stewart, Suite 5220 Seattle, WA 98101-1271 Phone: 206-553-7970 Fax: 206-553-0755 E-mail: Elisa.Skinner@usdoj.gov 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 JOINT STATUS REPORT - 2 In re: Petition of Index Newspapers 2:17-MC-00145-RSL UNITED STATES ATTORNEY 700 STEWART STREET, SUITE 5220 SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98101 (206) 553-7970