MySpace seeks court’s guidance

Sometimes states ask MySpace to turn over sex offenders’ email addresses, sometimes the content of their emails. Addresses are one thing, but the content of private emails seem to be another. “MySpace has provided the profiles of offenders,” Reuters reports. “However, MySpace has not provided private email correspondence, citing legal restrictions.” Federal law (the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986) “prevents Internet service providers such as MySpace from turning over a user’s electronic communications without a search warrant.” Another problem Reuters cites is the difficulty of obtaining a search warrant for an offender not currently under investigation. The upshot of all this is that MySpace filed a request in a Pennsylvania court that is seeking its guidance on how the site “can legally provide local authorities with the private emails of convicted sex offenders on it.” MySpace handed the emails over to the court so it could decide whether or not to share them with law enforcement. What the court decides “is seen as a test case for how local US authorities and MySpace can cooperate in sharing information without violating federal law.” Here’s CNET’s coverage.