Google, Yahoo, doing it right

[eric/]

Yahoo demands probable-cause, court-issued warrants to divulge the content of messages inside its popular consumer e-mail brands — Yahoo and Ymail, the web giant said Friday.

The Sunnyvale, California-based internet concern’s exclusive comments came two days after Google revealed to Wired that it demands probable-cause warrants to turn over consumer content stored in its popular Gmail and cloud-storage Google Drive services — despite the federal law known as ECPA not always requiring warrants.

“Yes, we require a probable cause warrant for e-mail content,” said Yahoo spokeswoman Lauren Armstrong, in an e-mail interview. “That is more than ECPA requires.”

The nation’s other major consumer-facing e-mail provider — Microsoft — which markets the Hotmail and Outlook brands, declined comment for this story.

In short, Yahoo and Google are granting their customers more privacy than the four corners of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. There’s been a string of conflicting court opinions on whether warrants are required for data stored on third-party servers longer than 180 days.

The Supreme Court has never ruled on the issue. Federal and state law enforcement officials are seemingly abiding by Yahoo’s and Google’s own rules to avoid a showdown before the Supreme Court.

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I think this is a great thing. The federal government has slowly but surely continued to erode our privacy and liberties through the DMCA, Patriot Act, and now recently making it illegal to unlock your smart phone.

Hopefully more companies (go figure corporations want to protect our privacy from the government) step up to the plate.

Looking at you Apple and Microsoft!

Thoughts?

[bradl]

Originally Posted by eric/

I think this is a great thing. The federal government has slowly but surely continued to erode our privacy and liberties through the DMCA, Patriot Act, and now recently making it illegal to unlock your smart phone.

Hopefully more companies (go figure corporations want to protect our privacy from the government) step up to the plate.

Looking at you Apple and Microsoft!

Thoughts?

For once, we agree. The DMCA should never have been passed, or completely shot down by SCOTUS like it's predecessor, the CDA. Likewise with the Patriot Act and FISA. If I call my friends overseas, I shouldn't have to be worried on if the government is listening in.

With all of this, the 4th Amendment clearly applies. Looking at the article, it doesn't appear that Google nor Yahoo referenced the 4th in their statement. Are they challenging this on those grounds? And following that up, are they also challenging the ECPA base on the 4th?

Resident lawyers, care to chime in?

BL.

[chrono1081]

Originally Posted by eric/

I think this is a great thing. The federal government has slowly but surely continued to erode our privacy and liberties through the DMCA, Patriot Act, and now recently making it illegal to unlock your smart phone.

Hopefully more companies (go figure corporations want to protect our privacy from the government) step up to the plate.

Looking at you Apple and Microsoft!

Thoughts?

I'm not sure what Apple and Microsoft have to do with anything...the smart phone thing came straight from the carriers not the manufacturers (laws in the states regarding cell phones is much different than overseas since three major networks own pretty much everything).

As for the Patriot Act, again I fail to see how any company can stand against that since it was instated by the President.

EDIT: I forgot Microsoft has Hotmail.

[eric/]

Originally Posted by chrono1081

I'm not sure what Apple and Microsoft have to do with anything...the smart phone thing came straight from the carriers not the manufacturers (laws in the states regarding cell phones is much different than overseas since three major networks own pretty much everything).

As for the Patriot Act, again I fail to see how any company can stand against that since it was instated by the President.

EDIT: I forgot Microsoft has Hotmail.

Apple, has iCloud, as well.

[Evoken]

Very nice of Google and Yahoo to do this.

[niuniu]

See how long it lasts. We had internet service providers sticking the middle finger up at requests in the UK for blocks and information. One court ruling and now we can't access some of the most popular sites on the web.

The UK is China 2.0

Different censorship, same ***t.