Upon first glance of the headline, one might think: of course. But the line of jurisprudence in the last 100 years has really been inconsistent in this area. The idea is essentially that when you send an email, you do not own the severs, pipes, etc. that actually get the email where it needs to be; someone else does. So although you are sending an email to hansolo64@compuserve.com, you are disclosing (because you have to in order to get the message delivered) the contents of the email to telecommunications companies who are going to actually deliver it.
In the past, courts have used the disclosure argument to justify pen registers - taps that show what number a phone is calling. The idea is that you told telephone company who you wanted to contact, so that information is no longer private. The only problem is that people do not really have a choice whether or not to disclose that information. If you want to make a phone call or send and email, you have to disclose that information.
But the Sixth Circuit looks like they are wising up. In an opinion written by Circuit Judge Boggs, the court held that email has evolved to the point where people expect their communications to be private; whether the email is between spouses or business partners. On that basis, the court held that the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights were violated. Unfortunately, the court also held that since the government relied on the Stored Communications Act in good faith, the court was not going to do anything about the violation.
Link to the opinion.
via Ars
