[IP] Govt claims warrantless access to e-mail via third party servers
Begin forwarded message:
From: Brett Glass <brett@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: December 21, 2006 1:21:53 PM EST
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Govt claims warrantless access to e-mail via third party
servers
Dave:
I'm surprised that this hasn't been mention on the IP list yet, but
apparently the government is claiming in court that it doesn't need a
search warrant, and doesn't need to notify you, before it can tap
your e-mail if it is stored on a third party's server (e.g. Hotmail,
Yahoo! Mail, or even an intermediate machine which is forwarding e-
mail on to its final destination). Apparently, the government is
interpreting a very dated law called the Stored Communications Act of
1986 -- written before most people had e-mail -- to allow this. See
http://www.startribune.com/789/story/884388.html
for an article on the subject. As with Miranda, the test case is
certainly no saint but nonetheless may have a valid constitutional
argument.
For the text of the law itself (to which there was no link in the
article), see
http://www.cybercrime.gov/ECPA2701_2712.htm
It seems to me that this is another example of a "public/private
loophole" -- a term I've coined to describe situations in which
government attempts to circumvent constitutional restrictions by
enlisting private companies to do what government is constitutionally
proscribed from doing. (Another example would be government accessing
users' credit reports to gather personal information that would
normally require a warrant to obtain.)
--Brett Glass
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