Posted on 04/11/2013 9:24:02 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has claimed that agents do not need warrants to read people's emails, text messages and other private electronic communications, according to internal agency documents.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request, released the information on Wednesday.
In a 2009 handbook, the IRS said the Fourth Amendment does not protect emails because Internet users "do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in such communications." A 2010 presentation by the IRS Office of General Counsel reiterated the policy.
Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986, government officials only need a subpoena, issued without a judge's approval, to read emails that have been opened or that are more than 180 days old.
Privacy groups such as the ACLU argue that the Fourth Amendment provides greater privacy protections than the ECPA, and that officials should need a warrant to access all emails and other private messages.
Traditionally, the courts have ruled that people have limited privacy rights over information they share with third parties. Some law enforcement groups have argued that this means they only need a subpoena to compel email providers, Internet service companies and others to turn over their customers' sensitive content.
But in 2010, a federal appeals court ruled that police violated a man's constitutional rights when they read his emails without a warrant.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
The msm hasn’t told the stupid public to be upset. So, the public ignores.
American Idle is on. American’s outrage is reserved for when their favorite singer is kicked off.
should we be free to hack into their websites??
EXACTLY!
And they won’t, until a Republican is in office.
If they read my spam folder they would think that I am extremely rich and have lots of money to support every Nigerian that comes begging for money, which would mean that they will sic the IRS on me, right? Based on my spam folder?
Gees, now they can see all my confirmation E-mails of my Ammo purchases!
Let them eat spam.
So delete your read emails and don't let emails pile up for 180 days.
Seriously thou Everyone here should know that their emails are flying across the web Unencrypted. Whether or not the Government allows itself to read those emails is somewhat academic. One solution is to uses something like this: http://www.symantec.com/desktop-email-encryption
I guess I’ll have to add: “Dear IRS...please eat a turd” to my e-mail signature line.
I wonder if the whole internet thing was a plot to make it easier for Big Brother to access our lives, because people certainly put it all out there these days, on social networking sites, You Tube, etc. (I have no social network site accounts, hate ‘em. I don’t need another way for people I don’t even know to bug me).
Nether government nor its bureaucratic are that smart. for most of the last 15 years they have dithered around largely clueless as to how to harvest the vast wealth of information on the internet.
Now they are finaly starting to get a handle on it, and what people have yet to grasp is how to control what they put out there.
I post on a very few political/cultural interest sites, and say what I believe according to the site’s rules, but I don’t worry about that. I feel that I’m way too insignificant for anyone to bother, and I’m old enough that I’ll be gone before they start caring about people like me.
I hardly ever email or text. My family is large and close, but we’re the kind who get in touch when there’s a reason, not just to talk, unless somebody has dropped off the radar for too long (with us, that’s a pretty long time).
having just filed my return I really hope they can read my MIND today!
Your probably right mrsmel, there are too many people like us for them to round up and persecute without a major political uphevil, and the sorts of things you do is no threat to anyone.
If they should wish to attack you or your family it is mostly likely to go after your children & grand children in an effort to diswade them from your time tested wisdom.(Basically what their already doing except more targeted. )
Outrage? There’s only energy for that now that the college basketball season is over...
LOL
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