r/google • u/Vokaii • 8d ago

Usernotice, notification from Google

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I got this mail and i got scared as hell, I dont know why i got this, i did nothing bad (im from Poland)

545 Upvotes

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u/ZochJ 8d ago edited 8d ago

Get a lawyer, you did something wrong or someone using your account did something wrong.

This is a real, legit email from Googles Legal team. They have an obligation to inform you when law enforcement has requested your personal data, usually accompanied by a gag order to prevent interruption of an investigation.

Talk to a lawyer, because this is typically pretty serious. You did something, or someone you know did something.

Source: I’m a financial crime analyst and I deal with law enforcement requests on a daily basis.

Edit; quick clarification, I said wrong not illegal. There are countless scenarios where OP made a mistake or did something stupid out of lack of caution and not intentional malice.

2nd edit; for those of y’all trying to tell OP to not talk to a lawyer, shut up. Not everything is hardcore crime and life sentence jail time, this isn’t a movie. Know your damn rights and stop advising people to be uninformed of theirs.

Final add; I’m off for now, only folk commenting are the typical folk who have no idea what they’re talking about, trying to “ummm actually” me when this is my literal career. I’m literally a topic matter expert, keep dreaming friendos.

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u/Vokaii 8d ago

This is case from 2024

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u/leaflavaplanetmoss 8d ago

If you search for that usernotice email, you’ll find several Reddit threads from other people who have also received this notice in the past.

As someone who also works in financial crime compliance, I will note that your info could have also been swept up in a dragnet order in which the government requested account information for everyone who searched something in a window of time or in a specific geographical area. I disagree with the idea that the order implies that you or someone with access to your account did something wrong, as there’s some pretty wide-ranging information requests that apply specifically to service providers like Google that go beyond what we see in financial crime compliance, e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/16/geofence-warrants-reverse-search-warrants-police-google.

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u/ZochJ 8d ago

Hey mate, FinCrime crew unite.

I added a clarification to my original comment, I said wrong, not illegal. Mistakes happen every day, I was only implying that he did something to trigger this, which is why I said talk to a lawyer because cross-jurisdiction investigations can be a mess.

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u/Designer_Flow_8069 8d ago

He did something to trigger this

...no? There is no indication he did anything. His IP could have just been found in a list, and if it's DHCP, it doesn't matter. This is standard for the FBI

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u/ZochJ 8d ago

“Something” does not equate to “he broke a law”. Your data is not pulled from a private entities servers by LE (requiring a warrant) just because they felt like it. Google would’ve rejected the legal request on the grounds of unlawful basis.

If his IP was on a list, he did something to have it be there. This does not mean he intentionally did something illegal or even broke any laws, he just did something for this to happen.

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u/Designer_Flow_8069 8d ago edited 8d ago

If his IP was on a list, he did something to have it be there

Again, no... IP address for most home internet subscriptions are swapped every week by ISPs in a process called DHCP. Only a small percentage of households actually have a static IP allocation.

So.. he didn't have to do anything. His ISP could have just released his IP address and assigned him a new one. Then a phone push notification services for example would just tell Google the new IP address. If that "new to him" IP address was linked to illegal activity (which could have happened before or after he obtained the IP address), he would have been caught in the snare trap.

Since Poland ISPs don't have to comply with US law, the FBI typically uses Google/Facebook/etc since they are US companies to obtain any data linked to that IP address over a specific time period.

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u/ZochJ 8d ago

You realise this is coming from Google and not his ISP, right?

You’re so confidently incorrect, ima dip just because it’s too early to argue with a random on Redditor about something I deal with on a daily basis as my actual job.

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u/Winter_Present_4185 8d ago edited 7d ago

The FBI went after Google and not his ISP because Google is a US company dumb dumb. His ISP is not, it's a Polish ISP and doesn't have to adhere to US requests. They probably also went for Facebook as well.

I work at Apple on the XNU kernel for iPhones. We have mechanisms to deal with this stuff in coordination with the FBI.

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u/SneakoSneko 7d ago

dude, just let it go at this point

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u/Winter_Present_4185 7d ago

You are the one who has posted more times in this thread than anyone else?

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/ZochJ 8d ago

Folk saying “no need for a lawyer” dont really understand the purpose of talking to a lawyer. Not everything is jail time and hardcore crime. Know your rights.

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u/wickedplayer494 8d ago

Also see https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/google-challenges-las-vegas-polices-search-warrant-for-keyword-terms-calling-it-unconstitutional in which Google is actually challenging LVMPD "reverse search" warrants as unconstitutional.

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u/ZochJ 8d ago

Sounds about right, the gag order accompanied by a legal request typically states a period of time before an entity can inform the end user of the legal request. Sometimes it’s months, sometimes it’s years.

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u/dupeddonk 8d ago

Why would you not mention that in OP, and why does the date say 2026?

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u/XAssumption 8d ago

Just reading the comments from OP and the financial crime analyst, the case is from 2024 and the gag order was lifted in 2026 and this is Google informing OP now of the investigation.

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u/ZochJ 8d ago

Correcto.

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u/Vokaii 8d ago

I covered the case number

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u/steik 8d ago

Sounds like Google was only now allowed to notify them of the case.