11th Circuit Eliminates 4th Amend. In E-mail

Artefacto writes "Last Thursday, the Eleventh Circuit handed down a Fourth Amendment case, Rehberg v. Paulk, that takes a very narrow view of how the Fourth Amendment applies to e-mail. The Eleventh Circuit held that constitutional protection in stored copies of e-mail held by third parties disappears as soon as any copy of the communication is delivered. Under this new decision, if the government wants get your e-mails, the Fourth Amendment lets the government go to your ISP, wait the seconds it normally takes for the e-mail to be delivered, and then run off copies of your messages."

Comments

Let the whinging begin!

[Silverhammer]

It should be interesting to see how much (or little, more likely) our comments add to the conversation, since TFA presents the same basic position that most Slashdot readers already hold and it's presented with far more legal knowledge and in-depth analysis than most Slashdot readers are capable of.

Re:Other Amendments

[hamburger lady]

'many places' being states i assume? because currently the 2nd amendment only really applies to the federal government. states can, under the US constitution, abridge the right to bear arms all they want to.

there is a decision being appealed to the scotus on that issue - but really the court has to decide on it to make it official.