Gov't Requesting Record Amount of Google Email Data: Judge Napolitano Explains Why You Should Be 'Aggravated About This'
Google says it received a record 13,753 requests for email data from federal, state and local government agencies in 2012. Most of the requests for information contained in Gmail or other Google services were made without a search warrant, Google reported.
Fox and Friends asked Judge Andrew Napolitano whether this is constitutional. He explained
that "gradually the government has worn away at the constitutional protection," which requires criminal investigators to obtain a search warrant by showing a judge sworn evidence of probable cause.
Napolitano said that currently, "federal agents can write their own search warrants to get your emails," meaning messages that are stored on an outside server, like Google's, not on your hard drive or computer. The government is allowed to see the sender and the recipient, but not the body of the email.
"If the government wants the wording of the email itself, it has to go to a judge and get a warrant," Napolitano said, going on to explain why he's "aggravated" about this situation and why you should be too.
Watch the discussion:
