Legal Request GuidelinesLast updated: 22 October 2026

This page explains how Code Bin handles requests for user data from law enforcement and other authorities, and what data we hold. If you want a copy of your own data, see “Your rights” in our Privacy Policy instead.

Our principles

  • We only disclose user data when we’re legally required to, or in an emergency where someone’s life or safety is at risk.
  • We check every request is valid and ask for it to be narrowed if it’s too broad.
  • We tell affected users about a request before disclosing their data, unless the law or a court order prevents us, or telling them would put someone at risk or harm an investigation.

What data we hold

Visible to anyone

  • public and unlisted pastes;
  • the display name and profile picture of signed-in users who created them.

Not public

  • account details: email address, name, username, and connected sign-in services;
  • sign-in records, such as times, IP addresses and devices, held by our authentication provider;
  • paste details: contents of private pastes, creation dates and the account that created each paste;
  • request logs held by our hosting provider for a short period.

We don’t keep previous versions of edited pastes, and we don’t log who views a paste. We only have the passwords of password-protected pastes as one-way hashes, so we can’t provide them. Pastes created without an account aren’t linked to any user.

Making a request

We’re based in the United Kingdom. We respond to requests made under UK law, such as production orders, warrants, and requests under the Data Protection Act 2018 (Schedule 2, paragraph 2) for preventing or detecting crime. Authorities outside the UK should make requests through the appropriate international process, such as a mutual legal assistance request.

Send requests to [email protected] from an official email address, including:

  • the name of your organisation and the legal basis for the request;
  • your name, role, official email address and phone number;
  • the links to the specific pastes or accounts involved;
  • the specific data you need, and the time period; and
  • any deadline, and whether the request must be kept confidential.

Please allow up to 14 days for a response to non-emergency requests.

Preserving data

We can preserve specific data for up to 90 days while you obtain the legal authority needed to request it.

Emergencies

If there’s an immediate risk of death or serious harm, put “Emergency” in the subject line and explain the risk. We may disclose limited data without a formal order where we believe it’s necessary to prevent that harm.

Removing content

To report illegal content or ask us to remove a paste, see “Reporting, moderation and complaints” in our Terms of Service. For copyright complaints, see section 6.