An example will help to illustrate the issue. Let??™s say I e-mail you a message that must go
over the Internet. Assume that since Al Gore invented the Internet, he has also figured out
howto intercept and read messages sent over the Internet. Does the Wiretap Act state that Al
cannot grab my message to you as it is going over a wire? What about the different e-mail
servers my message goes through (being temporarily stored on it as it is being forwarded)?
Does the law say that Al cannot intercept and obtain my message as it is on a mail server?
Those questions and issues came down to the interpretation of the word ???intercept.???
Through a series of court cases, it has been generally established that ???intercept??? only
applies to moments when data is traveling, not when it is stored somewhere permanently
or temporarily. This leaves a gap in the protection of communications that is
filled by the Stored Communication Act, which protects this stored data. The ECPA,
which amended both earlier laws, therefore is the ???one-stop shop??? for the protection of
data in both states??”transmission and storage.
While the ECPA seeks to limit unauthorized access to communications, it recognizes
that some types of unauthorized access are necessary.
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