Texas First State To Require Warrants For Email Surveillance
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Texas has become the first state in the nation to mandate that police obtain a warrant before prying into someone’s email.
The new law (HB 2268) applies only to state and local law enforcement. Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (pdf) (ECPA), passed in 1986, federal law enforcement agencies are only required to get a warrant to access recent emails before they are opened by the recipient.
No such provision in federal law prevents the Federal Bureau of Investigation from reading emails once they have been opened or have remained unopened for 180 days.
The Texas initiative, signed into law by Governor Rick Perry, requires Texas law enforcement officials to get a court warrant to gain access to emails, no matter how old they are. The bill was approved without opposition in both houses of the Texas state legislature.
There are currently efforts underway in the U.S. Congress to modernize ECPA, as well as to introduce new legislation (pdf), that will protect the privacy of email communications.
Okay, but the problem is this:
Law enforcement agencies no longer go to the courts for their warrants, where probable cause must be presented in order for a judge to sign it, they go to their file cabinet pull one out and have the senior investigating officer or legal department representative sign it….
Laws only work when the system is not corrupt….
Unfortunately this legal/justice system is very corrupt….