"The proposed legislation requires state law enforcement agencies to get a warrant for all e-mails regardless of the age of the e-mail."
How is it possible that this is not the case everywhere in the USA. An email does not somehow become less private only because it is older. This is the sort of loop hole that politician and law enforcement weasels create to undermine the privacy of communication.
I am generally fine with wire-tapping if (and only if) a warrant was obtained first. If that does not happen there is no separation of the three powers, and you cannot really speak of the "rule of law".
The curious thing about this, is it was the case that you needed a warrant - at the state level - to access email. Such was true for two decades (predating the Web). As a state authority, you stood no chance in hell of getting email records turned over to you without a warrant, until the last four or five years.
Email providers became very pliant toward handing over whatever was requested, first with the Feds, then it trickled down. Email providers and ISPs also decided not to specifically fight for strong privacy legislation (insert comment about being the product if you're not paying for email).
The Feds gave up on warrants and got what they wanted through technology mostly, forcing the hands of the telecoms by threat; they simply stopped asking and just took what they wanted. For the Feds it made sense to them to stop using warrants because of the scale involved. It set a strong precedent for violating civil rights that some states are following.
> Email providers became very pliant toward handing over whatever was requested, first with the Feds, then it trickled down.
It helps that the outrage of customers (affected and non-affected) usually does not go as far as to cancel their services with ISPs, given that it is often the only one available.
How is it possible that this is not the case everywhere in the USA. An email does not somehow become less private only because it is older. This is the sort of loop hole that politician and law enforcement weasels create to undermine the privacy of communication.
I am generally fine with wire-tapping if (and only if) a warrant was obtained first. If that does not happen there is no separation of the three powers, and you cannot really speak of the "rule of law".