Many of us say, "It is about time." We continuously warn all eMail users that it is not a secure medium and you should not put anything in eMail that you do not want published. This ruling by the US Court of Appeals could be the first step towards correcting that caveat.
As stated in the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) press release,
"Over the last 20 years, the government has routinely
used the federal Stored Communications Act (SCA) to secretly obtain
stored email from email service providers without a warrant. The
ruling, closely following the reasoning in an amicus brief filed the by
EFF and other civil liberties groups; found that the SCA violates the
Fourth Amendment.
"Email users expect that their Hotmail and Gmail inboxes are just as
private as their postal mail and their telephone calls," EFF Staff
Attorney Kevin Bankston said.
"The government tried to get around this common-sense conclusion,
but the Constitution applies online as well as offline, as the court
correctly found. That means that the government can't secretly seize
your emails without a warrant," he added."
A full copy of the ruling is available at
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/warshak_v_usa/6th_circuit_decision_upholding_injunction.pdf which clearly includes the requirement for prior notice and the right to oppose the warrant:"The district court correctly determined that e-mail users maintain a reasonable expectation of privacy in the content of their e-mails, and we agree that the injunctive relief it crafted was largely appropriate, although we find necessary one modification. On remand, the preliminary injunction should be modified to prohibit the United States from seizing the contents of a personal e-mail account maintained by an ISP in the name of any resident of the Southern District of Ohio, pursuant to a court order issued under 18 U.S.C. ยง 2703(d), without either (1) providing the relevant account holder or subscriber prior notice and an opportunity to be heard, or (2) making a fact-specific showing that the account holder maintained no expectation of privacy with respect to the ISP, in which case only the ISP need be provided prior notice and an opportunity to be heard."
This may well bring further protections in the future when others are willing and able to seek court protection to their 4th Amendment right to privacy!
