Federal Appeals Court Revives E-mail Snoop Case
A federal appeals court has revived the government's online eavesdropping prosecution against an executive of a company that offered e-mail service and surreptitiously tracked its subscribers' messages. The case had been dismissed in 2003 by a judge who found it was acceptable for the company to make copies of the e-mails so it could peruse messages sent to its subscribers by rival Amazon.com. In yesterday's 5-2 decision, the full court said the e-mail interception could be considered illegal and reinstated the indictment, sending the case back to the District Court.
Court rules e-mail may get privacy protection, Associated Press, August 12, 2005.
