A federal grand jury subpoena is not the same thing as law enforcement asking for information.

For one, a grand jury is made up of citizens, not members of law enforcement. (Notwithstanding the well-known belief that a "grand jury would 'indict a ham sandwich,' if that's what [the prosecutor] wanted.")

"Asking for information" includes things like a county police department sending a letter on department letterhead asking for information. It also includes the US government through Herbert Yardley asking all of the telegraph companies for their message traffic. There is no legal compulsion behind those requests.

jedberg's original comment confirms that this refers to simply asking, in the hopes that the recipient will pass data over voluntarily."It's really easy to make a request for information, and in most cases, the person you're asking will just willingly give it up even though they don't legally have to, either because they want to be helpful or because they don't know about their legal rights.

A federal grand jury subpoena, on the other hand, has teeth behind it. A recipient is legally obligated to respond to the subpoena, either with the requested information or with a legal challenge.

So no, these are not the same things. Reason.com received an order by a grand jury, not a request by law enforcement.