EPIC steps up anti-Google campaign with "wiretapping" allegation [priv]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://news.com.com/2100-1038_3-5205554.html?tag=nefd.hed

Three nonprofit groups alleged this week that Google's forthcoming Gmail 
service violates California wiretapping laws--but lawyers who specialize 
in privacy law were skeptical of the claim.

In a letter sent to California Attorney General Bill Lockyer on Monday, 
the Electronic Privacy Information Center argued that Gmail must be shut 
down because it "represents an unprecedented invasion into the sanctity 
of private communications." Gmail provides one gigabyte of Web-based 
mail storage in exchange for context-sensitive advertising that appears 
on the right side of the screen.

"We believe that Gmail violates California's wiretapping laws, 
subjecting both Google and Gmail users to criminal and civil penalties," 
said the letter, also signed by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and the 
World Privacy Forum. "Accordingly, we respectfully request that your 
office investigate the Gmail service."

Stewart Baker, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson who advises technology 
clients on surveillance-related topics, said EPIC's analysis was flawed. 
"This is a pretty Luddite notion that if the machine reads my mail, then 
I've been wiretapped," Baker said. "That would set (Web based) services 
back quite a ways."

[...remainder snipped...]
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