As it currently stands, e-mail is free domain as far as the government is concerned when searching for evidence. This, however, may soon change as the senate has proposed that officials will need a warrant in the future before checking private e-mail accounts.

From The Hill: 

“Sen. Patrick Leahy's (D-Vt.) goal is for the Senate to unanimously approve his bill before the August recess, according to one of his committee aides. Any opposition could delay a vote until after Congress returns in the fall.

 He has secured unanimous support from his fellow Democrats and is in negotiations with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the Judiciary Committee's ranking member, and other Republicans to address their concerns.”

According to Leahy’s aide, even if the floor vote is delayed, at this point there is already more than enough votes to pass over a filibuster and approve the bill.

The bill proposed by Leahy would not affect the NSA programs, but it would have an effect on local and federal law officials.

The only acting e-mail ruling is from the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986, stating that police only need a subpoena without a judge’s approval to access internet company’s e-mails that have been held for over 180 days. This, of course, does not take into account the multitude of changes brought by internet users in the past two decades.

Leahy’s bill stands that the ECPA is well outdated, and has gained the support of big name companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Yahoo.

“"Users expect, as they should, that the documents they store online have the same Fourth Amendment protections as they do when the government wants to enter the home to seize documents stored in a desk drawer," Google representative, Richard Salgado spoke at a House hearing earlier in the year.

 

Reach Executive Producer Eric Parra here.