"Last week a federal appeals court in Massachusetts ruled that an e-mail provider did not break the law when he copied and read e-mail messages sent to customers through his server.

Upholding a lower-court decision that the provider did not violate the Wiretap Act, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set a precedent for e-mail service providers to legally read e-mail that passes through a network.

[...]

Last week's ruling means that e-mail has fewer protections than phone conversations and postal mail. Granting e-mail providers the ability to read e-mail is equivalent to granting postal workers the right to open and read any mail while it's at a post office for sorting, but not while it's in transit between post offices or being hand-delivered to a recipient's home or business.

The ruling also has repercussions for voicemail messages, as long as certain provisions in the Patriot Act remain law.

Before the Patriot Act, the legal definition of wire communication included voicemail messages. This meant that authorities had to obtain a wiretap order to access voicemail messages or face charges of illegal interception under the Wiretap Act. Under the Patriot Act, however, the definition of wire communication changed. Voicemail messages are now considered stored communication, like e-mail. As a result, law enforcement authorities need only a search warrant to access voicemail messages, a much easier process than obtaining a wiretap order.

The provision in the Patriot Act that changed this is set to sunset in December 2005, but if the current administration has its way, the law will be renewed."