Am I understanding the story correctly, that the US District Court may NOT get the info in order to track down the threat?
Thats what it looks like to me. Basically, the FEDs mucked up the subpoena process and they showed their hand. Now the website folds their hand and gets to play another hand.
They seems to have had a legitimate request but their incompetence botched the case. Sounds like the FEDs to me!