WASHINGTON -- The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on Thursday to force cops to get a warrant to spy on your email. It was a first step toward beating back the "growing and unwelcome intrusion into our private life in cyberspace," as Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who offered the amendment, put it.
But the fact that the vote even needed to take place may surprise many Americans who assume their online inbox has the same protections as the one sitting on their desk at home.
Because of judicial precedent and a law that is more than 25 years old, however, the email accounts of anyone who uses webmail providers like Google, Yahoo, AOL or Microsoft can in many cases be accessed without a warrant. And while the exact mechanics of the investigation into former CIA Director David Petraeus' now-infamous emails are shrouded in mystery, that episode illustrates that much can be revealed, against our will, by a simple look into the inbox.
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