The Center for Democracy and Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Library Association have filed a brief supporting the US government's appeal against a 1st Court of Appeal ruling that "rewrites the field of internet surveillance law in ways that no one in Congress ever imagined".
Wired News reports: "The case centered on Bradford C. Councilman, an online bookseller who offered his customers free e-mail accounts and then sifted through e-mails from Amazon.com to his customers. Councilman was charged in 2001 by the US Attorney's office with violating the Wiretap Act, which outlaws most interceptions of phone calls and e-mails. The case never made it to trial, as the court dismissed the charge.
"A three-judge panel from the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal, arguing that the wiretap law did not apply since the e-mails were stored, even if only for seconds, on Councilman's computer."
Wired News reported the original case here.
