The USA PATRIOT Act: Implications for Private E-Mail

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the USA PATRIOT Act was enacted to “enhance domestic security.” One of the means to accomplish this was to give law enforcement increased authority for the surveillance, interception, and disclosure of private e-mails. The USA PATRIOT Act negated several of the privacy protections afforded private e-mail under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). While the USA PATRIOT Act itself lessened the privacy protection of e-mail, did this in reality occur? Following up on an earlier study (2001) of e-mail and privacy policies, the communication privacy policies at three public Internet service providers (ISPs), three educational institutions, and three private ISPs (Internet access offered by employers to their employees) were re-examined and the organizations re-interviewed to determine if the privacy of e-mail since September 11, 2001 and the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act has, in actuality, been lessened under the law. Surprisingly, only one of the policies was changed: that of a public ISP. It is believed that the lack of change is due to several factors, such as uncertainty regarding the definition of an ISP to the public, circumstances that did not necessitate a change, and extraneous issues affecting libraries.