Cops don’t need a warrant to see your e-mail—but they might soon | Ars Technica
►http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/cops-dont-need-a-warrant-to-see-your-e-mail-but-they-might-soon
A new bill introduced today in the US House of Representatives seeks to require warrants before police can trawl through your e-mail or track your cell phone, reports CNET. The legislation is backed by several technology companies, including Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Twitter. But given the government’s history with privacy bills, it faces a high chance of getting blocked by the Department of Justice.
The bill was introduced by Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and would require officers to get a warrant before accessing e-mail or location information. Access to these data types is a notorious gray area in US courts.
In August, the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that law enforcement officials were within their right to access the location data from a man’s cellphone without a warrant. The basis for this ruling was the Stored Communications Act, which states authorities may not access the content of communications, but are allowed to see where and to whom they went. Prosecutors have been using this law to justify access to location data for some time, but the interpretation has been increasingly called into question by civil liberties groups.
