 |
 |
|
Are you concerned about privacy in regard to your personal emails? |
However, the article goes on to say that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Ohio "held that Internet users had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the content of personal emails being stored by Internet service providers such as Yahoo! and Google."
This became an issue when federal investigators in Ohio overstepped their constitutional power by taking emails without a warrant. Now, if the decision passes, the Sixth Circuit Court would require investigators to get a warrant or allow the email user to contest the search before taking emails.
"It goes without saying that, like the telephone earlier in our history, email is an ever-increasing mode of private communication, and protecting shared communications through this medium is as important to Fourth Amendment principles today as protecting telephone conversations has been in past," said the court.
However, according to University of Colorado Law School professor Paul Ohm, "Email has always been treated as a second-class citizen. Police were free to engage in more speculative investigations of people's email messages. But [the Sixth Circuit ruling] means that email has been elevated as something that is much more significant and important."
Plus, gathering information on suspected criminals and terrorists could be harder. According to the same article on abcnews.go.com, "investigators would have to gather more incriminating facts about a suspect before they could read personal emails."
|
