EFF: Your Fourth Amendment Rights Should Not be Limited by Terms of Service
Your Fourth Amendment Rights Should Not be Limited by Terms of Service Last week, we filed an amicus brief in U.S. v. Wilson , a federal appellate case, in which we argued that email providers’ terms of service can’t limit your Fourth Amendment rights. This is the second brief we’ve filed in less than a year addressing this important point. Email and other electronic communications can contain highly personal, intimate details of our lives. As one court noted , through emails, “[l]overs exchange sweet nothings, and businessmen swap ambitious plans, all with the click of a mouse button.” In an age where almost all of us now communicate via email, text, or some other messaging service, electronic communications are effectively no different from letters, which the Supreme Court held were protected by the Fourth Amendment way back in 1878 . At this point, almost all courts that have squarely addressed the issue have held the Fourth Amendment protects electronic communications from w...