California Appellate Tracker

City & County of San Francisco v. Homeaway.com, Inc.

April 22, 2018

The federal Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. 2701 et seq., permitted San Francisco to issue an administrative subpoena to the owner of a website that sought records of transactions involving short-term rentals for tax purposes.

San Francisco issued an administrative subpoena to Homeaway.com, a short-term rental internet website, seeking records of transactions involving the rental of properties within San Francisco so the city could collect tax from the renter/owners. This decision affirms a judgment enforcing the subpoena, finding that the type of information sought was not a “communication” and therefore was subject to lesser protection under the Stored Communications Act (18 USC 2701 et seq.). That Act allows public agencies to obtain the sort of identification information that the subpoena sought. The subpoena also did not violate the users’ or Homeaway.com’s constitutional rights.

California Court of Appeal, First District, Division 4 (Ruvolo, P.J.); March 15, 2018 (published March 28, 2018); 2018 WL 1518380

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City & County of San Francisco v. Homeaway.com, Inc.

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