The curious case of Ethereum’s missing warrant canary

[Pegasus]

Previously, ethereum.org featured a peculiar yellow canary on the footer of its website. The easily overlooked avian emblem served an important purpose—until it went missing.

On Apr. 30th, ethereum.org was overhauled with a new minimalist design. As part of the update, the Ethereum Foundation’s canary has gone missing.

This was no ordinary songbird. To understand its function it’s important to be aware of secret subpoenas—which compel testimony or the production of evidence in court and have criminal penalties if disclosed.

Footer of etherum.org prior to the relaunch

However, clever information providers can circumvent legal repercussions by signaling to people when they haven’t been served with a subpoena. The warrant canary on the Ethereum website previously warned users when the Foundation is served with one of these subpoenas, which may put the organization’s sensitive information at risk.

Text of the canary when moused-over

The bird on closer inspection says:

“The Ethereum Foundation (Stiftung Ethereum) has never been contacted by any agency anywhere in the world in a way which required that contact not be disclosed. Siftung Ethereum will publicly disclose any sort of inquiry from government agencies that falls outside the scope of regular business operations.”

The removal of the warrant canary sparked rumors that the Foundation was recently served with a warrant and that folding it into the website revamp would make the change more discrete. However, Alex van de Sande, an Ethereum UX designer who implemented the original canary, suggested the removal was likely accidental.

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