Grover Nordquist is a hardcore Republican/Libertarian/Conservative. The ACLU, on the other hand, trends strongly towards the left. Their viewpoints are often diametrically opposed, yet they, and we, and nearly all the big players in the tech industry can agree on one thing: the Electronic Communications Privacy Act is a steaming pile of horse feces.

Also much like the CFAA, the ECPA is a tool used by law enforcement to trample upon the rights of criminal defendants. While that law is used to bring up arguably bogus hacking charges for violating private contracts (websites’ Terms of Service), the ECPA declares that any information left on a server for more than 180 days (or immediately, if the email has been read) is abandoned. Abandoned information is accessible without a warrant and only requires a subpoena.

No probable cause. No warrant. Just a sworn statement of “I think this will help my investigation, maybe.”

Or as Nordquist and Laura W. Murphy (the Director of the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office) put it in a joint blog post for The Hill:

True indeed. We’ve complained about it. Google has too. And finally, Congress may be moving towards a solution for it.

“Today, if the police want to come into your house and take your personal letters, they need a warrant. If they want to read those same letters saved on Google or Yahoo they don’t. The Fourth Amendment has eroded online.”

  • Google Fights For Users’ Privacy; Still Playing by 80s Rules (FindLaw’s Technologist)
  • The Legal Legacy of Aaron Swartz (FindLaw’s Technologist)
  • Unlikely allies join in a push to require warrants for access to digital communications (ABA Journal)

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