I see. So he should have simply stonewalled at the very <i>first</i> request, not wait until it dealt with someone he wanted to protect.<p>On the other hand the story above does not relate whether or not there were previous requests there <i>is</i> a passage that indicates that the operator of the service had knowledge of the person involved.<p>&quot;Nick wasn’t sure why the FBI was demanding the information, but he knew a little about the subscriber the FBI was apparently investigating, and he doubted that the investigation was a legitimate one. &quot;<p>He also wondered why the FBI did not involve a judge and in the Lavabit case a judge clearly was involved.