Law enforcement officials legally need to get search warrants when they tap your phone or read your mail but they face no such restrictions on a federal level when it comes to electronic communications. With this in mind, both Google and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have started banging the drum for a campaign aimed at pressuring lawmakers to amend the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to make law enforcement officials get court-issued warrants before snooping on suspects’ email. Google and the EFF are both part of a larger coalition of companies that are urging an overhaul of the ECPA, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook.
Google pushes campaign to end warrantless email snooping
Published Dec 6th, 2013 8:00PM EST
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Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.
