On Wednesday, Google announced that more than two thirds of user data Google forwards to government agencies across the US is handed over without a probable cause warrant.

Google spokesman, Chris Gaither, told sources that they demand government agencies to get a probable cause warrant for content on its email and other platforms. Despite the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) which allows the Government to search through customer data without a warrant if it is on Google's servers for more than 180 days.

"In order to compel us to produce content in Gmail we require an ECPA search warrant" Noted the Google Spokesman. "If they come for registration information, that's one thing, but if they ask for content of e-mail, that's another thing."

While not a lot of tech companies actually announce how many government requests they get, Google is one of the few email providers that is actually challenging law enforcement agencies to produce said warrants to access a user's email.

Google should be able to take some comfort in the fact that in 2010, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Fourth Amendment protecting unreasonable searches and seizures also protects email, even if it is over 180 days old, despite what ECPA says.



Posted: Jan 24, 2013 6:48 pm
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