4th Circuit Finding Opened Emails Deserve Protection Like Unopened Emails Draws Some Cheers
Opened emails are entitled to the same Stored Communications Act privacy protections as unopened emails, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court ruled Wednesday in docket 18-1306. Patrick Hately alleged David Watts, who was intimately involved with Watts’ ex-girlfriend, Nicole Torrenzano, illegally…
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accessed Watts’ email account. Judge James Wynn wrote the opinion, joined by Judges Roger Gregory and Diana Gribbon Motz. They disagreed with the lower court that "Hately’s previously opened and delivered emails stored by a web-based email service were not in statutorily protected 'electronic storage' under federal law." The jurists sent the case back to the district court. A lawyer for the defendant didn't comment immediately Thursday. New America’s Open Technology Institute said Thursday the decision has broad implications because police will now have to secure a warrant to access email evidence, regardless of how old the emails are or if they have been opened. "A contrary ruling would have meant that spam emails nobody opens are better protected from government access than sensitive, personal messages you open and save,” said Center for Democracy & Technology Freedom, Security and Technology Project Director Greg Nojeim.