Police seizure of text messages violated 4th Amendment, judge rules | Ars Technica

Rhode Island Judge rules text messages were illegally seized under the 4th Amendment when the police did not obtain a warrant. The Judge held, "It is objectively reasonable for people to expect the contents of their electronic text messages to remain private, especially vis-à-vis law enforcement."

This is somewhat contrasted by a federal Judge in Illinois that held that "sniffing" open wi-fi networks is not illegal wiretapping. This Illinois case seems to run counter to a 2011 decision, which is on appeal, suggesting  Google may have violated the law when its Street View cars intercepted fragments of traffic from open WiFi networks around the country.


Police seizure of text messages violated 4th Amendment, judge rules | Ars Technica

In re INNOVATIO IP VENTURES, LLC PATENT LITIGATION, Dist. Court, ND Illinois 2012