Tuesday, July 06, 2004

Last week a Federal District Court in Boston decided that when someone reads your private e-mail without your permission and before you receive it, it doesn't violate federal wiretap law. The ruling perfectly illustrates how we can frustrate the entire purpose of a statute simply by reading it too carefully. The case began when an online bookstore named Internloc decided to also become an online ISP... and a KGB. First it provided its clients with e-mail and Internet access, then it became interested in its customers' communications with competitor Amazon.com, presumable to find out which books its customers were buying from Amazon, and not from them. Internloc modified its inbound mail server to make special copies of any incoming Amazon e-mail for the company to read, without the customers' knowledge or consent. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts indicted the company and its vice president, Brad Councilman, for violation of the federal wiretap law, Title 18 United States Code Section 2511, which makes it a crime to: "intentionally intercept, endeavor to intercept, or procure any other person to intercept or endeavor to intercept, any wire, oral, or electronic communication." 6:43:59 PM