Blackmoor Vituperative

A landmark court decision found that the federal Stored Communications Act (SCA) violated Fourth Amendment protections from unreasonable search and seizure by allowing the government to search and seize email from email service providers.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation sent out notice of the decision and of their own filing of a brief supporting the decision. The decision was regarding Warshak vs. United States, filed by Steven Warshak who sought to stop the government from secretly searching and seizing his stored email based on the SCA. The court ruled that government must obtain a search warrant.

The government will appeal the decision…

(from webpronews.com, Court Tells Gov t 4th Amdt Goes For Email Too)

Well, duh. The sad thing is that this even had to go to court. Personally, I think there should be a significant financial penalty for government officials (whether elected, appointed, civil service, or contractor) who violate or attempt to violate the US Constitution. Fines, and possible imprisonment. If people were held personally responsible for their misconduct, they might not feel quite so casual about stomping on their fellow citizens’ rights.