Law enforcement officers regularly use the Stored Communications Act, (Title II of the Electronics Communications Privacy Act of 1986) to compel email providers to produce customers’ email records to aid in criminal investigations. In a case pending in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Microsoft is testing the limits of exactly how far officers can reach in their investigations.
Recently, the Second Circuit heard oral arguments between Microsoft and federal prosecutors regarding whether officers can use the SCA to compel an email hosting company to produce the secured email records of one of its customers that are stored solely in Ireland.
