> Constitutionally, privacy is a pretty cut-and-dry concept.
That's true. Privacy is anything you kept on your own person or in your own property.
Emails however, are stored on another person's computer and therefore have no expectation of privacy. (some 1980s case IIRC).
Constitutionally, privacy is a cut-and-dry concept for the 1800s when the Bill of Rights were written. The fact of the matter is, the people who wrote the Constitution had no concept of "Cloud Computing" or "Computing" in general.
So it is up to the job of today's Politicians and Judges to figure out what to do in these cases. And that isn't a very easy job to do.
Unfortunately, when in 1980s when the last Federal Cast happened, Emails were stored on your personal computer inside of your house.
POP was the primary protocol back then, not IMAP. IMAP wasn't invented yet. Therefore, the law lags and even today in 2015, the laws are being used as if emails are stored on personal computers.
Which means Emails are considered "abandoned property" if left on an external computer for more than 6 months. Abandoned Property is not subject to privacy.
That's true. Privacy is anything you kept on your own person or in your own property.
Emails however, are stored on another person's computer and therefore have no expectation of privacy. (some 1980s case IIRC).
Constitutionally, privacy is a cut-and-dry concept for the 1800s when the Bill of Rights were written. The fact of the matter is, the people who wrote the Constitution had no concept of "Cloud Computing" or "Computing" in general.
So it is up to the job of today's Politicians and Judges to figure out what to do in these cases. And that isn't a very easy job to do.