Preservation Request
Definition
A formal letter sent to a platform asking it to freeze and retain specified account data pending formal legal process. Under 18 U.S.C. § 2703(f) in the United States, platforms are obligated to preserve data for 90 days (renewable once) upon government request. Most major platforms honour similar requests from foreign law enforcement on a voluntary basis.
- Legal basis (US)
- 18 U.S.C. Section 2703(f)
- Duration
- 90 days, renewable once
- Sent to
- Platforms and social media providers
- International use
- Often honoured voluntarily for foreign requests
Common questions
How does a preservation request differ from a data disclosure order?+
A preservation request only compels the platform to freeze and retain the specified data so it is not deleted or overwritten, while a separate disclosure order, warrant, or subpoena is what actually compels the platform to hand the preserved data over to investigators.
Why do foreign law enforcement agencies rely on voluntary preservation from US platforms?+
Formal mutual legal assistance requests between countries can take months, so many major platforms accept voluntary preservation requests from foreign agencies to stop data loss in the interim, even though actual disclosure of the content still requires the appropriate cross-border legal process.
Related terms
- Account Attribution
- The process of linking a pseudonymous or anonymous online account to a real-world identity. Methods include IP log analysis, device fingerprinting, cross-platform...
- Cloud Collection Authority
- Authority must cover the actual account, data categories and access method. Provider disclosure and authenticated account access have different requirements by jurisdiction.
- CloudTrail
- AWS event-recording services with management, data and other event categories. Coverage depends on service support, selection and retention.
- EBS Snapshot
- A point-in-time block-storage snapshot under its consistency and encryption conditions. It does not include guest RAM.
- Forensic Capture
- Tool-based documentation of online content that records the URL, timestamp, and page hash alongside the visible content. Preferred over manual screenshots in...
- MLAT
- A mutual legal assistance treaty providing a framework for cooperation between states in obtaining evidence or other assistance. The applicable process, conditions,...
- MLAT (Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty)
- A mutual legal assistance treaty provides a framework for participating states to request specified assistance in criminal matters. Requests depend on treaty...
- NCII
- Non-consensual intimate imagery, including relevant real or synthetic depictions. Legal definitions and remedies vary.
- NIST IR 8006
- A 2020 NIST report examining cloud forensic science challenges. It is a research/requirements reference, not a mandatory universal acquisition recipe.
- OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence)
- Open-source intelligence is information collected and evaluated from publicly accessible sources for a defined enquiry. Public availability does not guarantee accuracy, lawful...
- Platform Policy
- A service’s rules for participation and moderation. Breaching them is not automatically a criminal offence.
- Relationship-Investment Fraud
- Fraud that builds trust before inducing payments into a purported investment. Not every romance scam uses an investment pretext.
Explained in these topics
- Cloud Forensics: Multi-Tenancy, APIs and Jurisdictional ChallengesA scoped request to retain specified available records pending an appropriate disclosure process. It does not grant access or recreate missing history.
- Online Account and Social Media Investigation
- Social Media Crime: Cyberbullying, Grooming and StalkingA request to retain specified existing records pending an appropriate disclosure process. It is distinct from production and cannot guarantee unavailable data.