In June, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in United States v. Councilman, affirmed a lower court’s decision that an e-mail provider could intercept and read e-mails while they were in temporary storage, such as on a library’s hard drive, if delivery to the recipient was not delayed.
“We believe that the court’s ruling, which gives Internet service providers the right to open and read customer e-mails for their own competitive business advantage, is a dangerous precedent,” said ALA Washington Office Executive Director Emily Sheketoff. “The court’s interpretation creates a loophole for law enforcement agents to intercept the e-mail of library patrons without a warrant.”
Joining ALA in filing the amicus brief were the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Posted September 3, 2004.