HOW FAR CAN THE GOVERNMENT'S HAND REACH INSIDE YOUR PERSONAL INBOX?: PROBLEMS WITH THE SCA

摘要

Imagine that the police believe you are involved in some type of criminal activity and that rummaging through your personal inbox will yield incriminating evidence of the crime. So without telling you, they force your internet service provider ("ISP"), for example Gmail or Yahoo, to hand over all of the emails you have received or sent that have anything to do with their suspicion of you. After reading up to hundreds or thousands of your email messages, the police plan to use any incriminating evidence against you in your soon-to-become criminal trial. Now is the first time you find out that the police have been watching you, and that they have been doing this without first having obtained a warrant. At your trial, you argue that the police invaded your individual privacy and that they should not be allowed to use that incriminating evidence against you. Unfortunately for you, the emails are admitted into evidence, the jury finds you guilty, and you are now criminally convicted of those crimes. You do not think this is fair? Neither did Steven Warshak ("Warshak") when he was in this same situation in October 2004.