In this case, CIS filed a motion and supporting declaration asking the Santa Clara County Superior Court to quash a subpoena from Homeward Pet Adoption Center to Yahoo! seeking personal information about an anonymous e-mail send to a list of people interested in the practices and policies of the animal shelter. Homeward asserted that the "John Doe", using the pseudonym "lazlototh1900_at_yahoo.com," submitted damaging statements
concerning Homeward to a Homeward-focused mailing list. In the Motion to Quash, CIS argued that Homeward must make a threshold showing before
information could be subpoenaed. CIS pointed out that Homeward did not
present any evidence to support its assertions and emphasized the
importance of the constitutional protection for John Doe's anonymous speech
over the Internet.