July 28, 2004 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Four members of the US House of Representatives, two Republicans and two Democrats, introduced the Email Privacy Act last week for consideration. According to reports, the law would significantly stiffen the restrictions against reading private email messages.
The proposed legislation was prompted by a recent federal case in which an email provider was charged with violating federal wiretapping laws for reading saved emails that were intended for customers of Amazon.com and then passing that information along.
The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals threw the case out, finding that existing federal laws distinguished between communications in transit and those that are stored. However, the court did say that the current Wiretap Act was likely out of step with current technological realities, and as a result, a matter for lawmakers, not the courts.
