Gov't Can Search E-Mail Without Notifying Account-Holder, Federal Judge Rules
When the feds search an individual’s e-mail under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, they don’t have to notify the account-holder, a federal judge has ruled.
In an order (PDF) unsealed yesterday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth of Washington, D.C., says the statute is satisfied so long as the government provides a copy of the search warrant to the Internet service provider, reports the Blog of Legal Times.
The decision is consistent with how other courts have come down on the issue, privacy practitioner Marc Zwillinger of Zwillinger Genetski tells the legal publication.
A provision of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure requiring that a copy of the search warrant and a property receipt be provided to the owner doesn’t apply to the ECPA, according to Lamberth’s ruling.
