Preview of Member Only Content
For full access: 
or Become a Member 
The Stored Communications Act and Prvate E-Mail Communications
By Martin C. Weinberg, Robert M. Goldtsein
The Government's Unconstitutional Policy of Seizing Private E-Mails Without a Warrant or Notice
Electronic mail (“e-mail”) has quickly become the preferred medium of
written communication in the United States of America. E-mail has
literally transformed the manner in which American society communicates,
and members of society clearly have a vital interest in preserving the
privacy of the contents of their e-mails.1 Certainly, an
individual possesses a strong and reasonable expectation of privacy in
the contents of his or her e-mail messages — whether traveling on the
electronic highway or stored within an Internet Service Provider (“ISP”)
server — and these modern day “closed containers” are entitled to the
full protections of the Fourth Amendment, just as the Supreme Court has
clearly held in the context of first-class mail and packages.2
The government believes otherwise, however, and through employment of
the Stored Communications Act, codified at 18 U.S.C.
Want to read more?
The Champion archive is reserved for NACDL members.
NACDL members, please login to read the rest of this article.
Not a member? Join now.
Or click here to see an overview of NACDL Member benefits.
See what NACDL members say about us.
To read the current issue of The Champion in its entirety, click here.
- Media inquiries: Contact NACDL's Director of Public Affairs & Communications Ivan J. Dominguez at 202-465-7662 or idominguez@nacdl.org
- Academic Requests: Full articles of The Champion Magazine are available for academic and research purposes in the WestLaw and LexisNexis databases.