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Comment by fooey

3 years ago

My understanding is under US law, any data you allow a 3rd party to "see" (aka "host") is considered public and they don't need a warrant

Police don't need a warrant to get into your gmail or icloud or whatever else you host with 3rd parties

The data isn't public. It belongs to Google. They can ask for a warrant or just give away "your" data willy nilly.

and from my understanding this is incorrect.

  • and from my understanding of the ECPA, opened email on a third party server is legally considered abandoned property and enjoys all the protection that a smashed washing machine next to the highway receives. After 180 days all bets are off, regardless of the message being previously read or not.