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Email Users Can't Count On Privacy Protections

The email story central to the case of former CIA director David Petreaus is that personal email enjoys very little privacy protection. The affair was discovered when the FBI gained access to the Gmail account of Paula Broadwell, in response to a claim by a Florida woman that she had been threatened. To do so, the FBI needed to obtain a warrant, which was granted by a judge. Google complied with the result, which the company reports it does 90% of the time. And the volume of government requests for access to personal email accounts is on the rise. Google received 8,000 requests during the first half of 2012, an increase of 34% over the same period the previous year. 

Read the whole story at Wall Street Journal »

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