Tagged: Stored Communications Act

Second Circuit Reverses Lower Court Microsoft Decision and Holds That Email Evidence Stored Abroad Cannot Be Gathered Pursuant to Criminal Warrant Issued Under Stored Communications Act

In a prior post, we reported that Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge Francis determined that Microsoft must comply with a U.S. Government’s warrant seeking a user’s email content, even though the emails are stored in Microsoft’s datacenter in Dublin, Ireland. After the lower court declined to quash the subpoena and held Microsoft in contempt for failing to turn over customer content stored abroad, Microsoft appealed to the Second Circuit. On July 14, 2016 the appeals court issued an extensive opinion reversing the lower court’s ruling.

Facebook Hacking Claims Dismissal Motion

Every now and then, a court issues a decision that is as interesting for its facts as it is for the import of its legal holding. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued such a decision involving application of the respective statutes of limitation for private claims made under the Stored Communications Act (“SCA”) and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”).

#Do-Not-Disclose — Twitter Sues Government Alleging Free Speech Violation

Twitter’s ubiquitous 140-character-or-less tweets are not, the company argues, sufficiently similar to email or other forms of stored electronic information to warrant lumping them together with the likes of Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo!, or Apple, all of which have agreed to restrictive limitations on their public reporting of government surveillance. Twitter has sued the U.S. Government in federal court in California to make its point.

New York Court Rules Email Evidence Stored Abroad is Subject to Criminal Warrant Issued Under Stored Communications Act

Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge Francis has determined that Microsoft must comply with a U.S. Government’s warrant seeking a user’s email content even though the emails are stored in Microsoft’s datacenter in Dublin, Ireland. The decision is likely to get widespread attention and be the subject of future court review, as it expands the reach of a government criminal warrant beyond the borders of the United States to allow for the collection of evidence abroad.

“Persnickety, Persistent” Questions: The Stored Communications Act

The Stored Communications Act (“SCA”) prohibits internet service providers from disclosing the “content” of electronic communications. What constitutes “content” of an electronic communication? It may be easier to rephrase the question: What doesn’t constitute content? According to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the answer is: very little.