[p2p-research] Slashdot | Federal Judge Says E-mail Not Protected By 4th Amendment

[Paul D. Fernhout]

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/10/29/2257209/Federal-Judge-Says-E-mail-Not-Protected-By-4th-Amendment
"""
In the case In re United States, Judge Mosman ruled that there is no 
constitutional requirement of notice to the account holder because the 
Fourth Amendment does not apply to e-mails under the third-party doctrine. 
'When a person uses the Internet, the user's actions are no longer in his or 
her physical home; in fact he or she is not truly acting in private space at 
all. The user is generally accessing the Internet with a network account and 
computer storage owned by an ISP like Comcast or NetZero. All materials 
stored online, whether they are e-mails or remotely stored documents, are 
physically stored on servers owned by an ISP. When we send an e-mail or 
instant message from the comfort of our own homes to a friend across town 
the message travels from our computer to computers owned by a third party, 
the ISP, before being delivered to the intended recipient. Thus, “private” 
information is actually being held by third-party private companies."
"""
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Mosman

From:
http://volokh.com/2009/10/28/district-judge-concludes-e-mail-not-protected-by-fourth-amendment/
"The case is In re United States, — F.Supp.2d —-, 2009 WL 3416240 (D.Or. 
2009), by District Judge Mosman. The issue in the case is whether the 
government must notify a person when the government obtains a search warrant 
to access the contents of the person’s e-mail account. Judge Mosman 
concludes that Rule 41 and 18 U.S.C. 2703(a) require the notice to be served 
on the ISP, not the account holder, as a statutory matter. He then rules 
that there is no constitutional requirement of notice to the account holder 
because the Fourth Amendment does not apply to the e-mails under the 
third-party doctrine. Here’s the relevant analysis: ..."

I don't really know what this means for peer-to-peer in general, given email 
is a peer-to-peer technology.

--Paul Fernhout
http://www.pdfernhout.net/
http://www.beyondajoblessrecovery.org/