Court Holds there is a Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in the Contents of Emails
United States v. Warshak, 631 F.3d 266 (6th Cir. Dec. 2010)
In this lengthy opinion, the court considered the question of whether an account holder has an expectation of privacy as to the contents of his emails. Answering in the affirmative, the court held that “a subscriber enjoys a reasonable expectation privacy in the contents of his emails ‘that are stored with, or sent or received through, a commercial ISP’” and that “the government may not compel a commercial ISP to turn over the contents of a subscriber’s emails without first obtaining a warrant based on probable cause.”