The Jerusalem Magistrates' Court ordered Google to disclose the details of a GMAIL user. The case concerned a defamation claim filed by a person who learned that a small local newspaper wrote libel about him. Upon searching for the people who were running the newspaper, it transpired that most of the contact details appearing in the newspaper (including names of people and a phone number) were false, and that the only detail which remained to be investigated was a GMAIL e-mail address. The person filed a claim for libel against an unknown company which was indicated in the newspaper, and petitioned the court in an interim motion to order Google to disclose any details (including IP addresses) it has on the owner of the GMAIL account (after Google refused to do so voluntarily). The court granted the motion, holding that there is no "right" to privacy for such GMAIL account holder, and that according to Google's Privacy Policy, it is entitled to disclose such details in scenarios such as this once. In addition, the court added that a newspaper must disclose accurate contact details of its owners, and may not be entitled to hide behind any alleged "right" to privacy. The court added that, in this respect, this case is even more clear-cut than cases concerning private internet users who write libel in websites.

Motion 2403/09 Eyal Ariel v. Google; Decision dated July 2, 2009.