Govt claims warrantless access to e-mail via third party servers

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brett Glass <brett () lariat net>
Date: December 21, 2006 1:21:53 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
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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