Yahoo, the internet corporation notorious for helping China implement totalitarian censorship of the web, has instructed its lawyers to go after Cryptome, a site that functions as a repository for information about freedom of speech, cryptography, spying, and surveillance.

Michael T. Gershberg of the law firm Steptoe & Johnson sent a DMCA takedown notice to John Young, Cryptome webmaster, on December 3. The law firm claims that Cryptome has violated Yahoo’s intellectual property rights and copyright by posting Yahoo’s Compliance Guide for Law Enforcement. Young has refused to remove the document from his website. The takedown order is posted on the Cryptome website.

The 17 page guide describes Yahoo’s data retention policies and the surveillance capabilities it offers law enforcement. The guide reveals how Yahoo retains the IP addresses from users who login to its site for a year. Yahoo instant message logs are retained for 45 to 60 days and include an account holder’s friends list and the date and times the user communicated with them, according to Kim Zetter of Wired.

Yahoo charges the government about $30 to $40 for the contents, including e-mail, of a subscriber’s account, and charges $40 to $80 for the contents of a Yahoo group, according to a price list included in the leaked document.