US Wants Courts to OK Warrantless Email Snooping

Erris writes "The Register is reporting that the US government is seeking unprecedented access to private communications between citizens. 'On October 8, 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati granted the government's request for a full-panel hearing in United States v. Warshak case centering on the right of privacy for stored electronic communications. ... the position that the United States government is taking if accepted, may mean that the government can read anybody's email at any time without a warrant. The most distressing argument the government makes in the Warshak case is that the government need not follow the Fourth Amendment in reading emails sent by or through most commercial ISPs. The terms of service (TOS) of many ISPs permit those ISPs to monitor user activities to prevent fraud, enforce the TOS, or protect the ISP or others, or to comply with legal process. If you use an ISP and the ISP may monitor what you do, then you have waived any and all constitutional privacy rights in any communications or other use of the ISP.'"

Comments

"Home of the brave"

[taskiss]

I guess we're not "Home of the brave" then, either. Given your exame, we're the "home of those who over-exaggerate"

I guess you and an idiot aren't really that different. And.. "to be fair"?!? You stretch reality to include US, China and the Soviet Union in the same class when talking freedom and privacy?

You troll. Get thee behind me.

Re:What privacy?

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

ISPs are not government entities...

Yes, they are.

ISPs, Power companies, major Airlines, Defense contractors, Major automobile manufacturers, etc, etc... These are all officially private companies, and indeed, they do have a large degree of independence. But in reality, they are off the books branches of government, who carry out the will of whoever is in power. Phone tapping, passenger screening, weapons sales. Government gives big contracts and favors, and companies need to keep them sweet. Hence, mass compliance among big business to dubious and even outright illegal Government requests.

You want an analogy? Think of the government as Al Swearengen in the first series of Deadwood. He runs the town, and everyone knows it. He's in every shady deal, but also in some sense organises the town. Big business, is like Wu, the top man in the Chinese camp. Wu conducts his own affairs and business, largely without Swearengen caring very much.

Wu needs Swearengen's continued support to keep operating in the camp, and so must keep him sweet. When Wu has problems, he takes his grievances to Swearengen, who will try to sort them out if it suits him. And often, when Swearengen needs a dirty job done, he calls on Wu services, e.g. body disposal. The two are largely out of each others hair, and on the surface, there would seem little connection. However, the two are "hang-dai" in Wu's own words, i.e. partners and comrades in all manner of shady dealing.

So remember. Big Business. Government. Hang-dai.

Re:"Think about it"

[Zenaku]

If your electronic mail is not encrypted, then one might argue that it is unreasonable to expect privacy. It sucks, but there's some truth to the idea that we all know already that our ISP can monitor any unencrypted traffic we send, and that they reserve the right to. Knowing that, we don't really expect our communications to be private. . . instead we hope that our ISP will at least do us the courtesy of not handing them over to another party without a good reason.

But is that a reasonable expectation? Not if you have any ISP that I've ever dealt with -- it would be reasonable based on my experience with them to assume that they are assholes.

Yet another case for encrypting everything. Of course, I don't practice what I preach. If I did, only about 3 percent of my contacts would be able to read my messages to them.