03/02/2020 In re 381 Search Warrants Directed to Facebook, Inc. :: 2017 :: New York Court of Appeals Decisions :: New York Case Law :: New York Law :: US … The SCA was designed to "protect legitimate law enforcement needs while minimizing intrusions on the privacy of system users as well as the business needs of electronic communications system providers" (132 Cong. Rec. S7987-04). Section 2703 (d) therefore [*13]encompasses demands to turn over information that impacts the provider's business, reputational, and property interests that may be impacted adversely by an order issued under subsections (a), (b), or (c) of section 2703. Being forced to share material from its users' accounts, unavoidably including material from individuals irrelevant to the state's investigation, may indeed tarnish a service provider's brand and alienate its users (see dissenting op at 12-13; see also In re Apple, Inc., 149 F Supp 3d 341, 368-73 [ED NY 2016]). Therefore, the economic impact on a service provider is sufficient grounds to assert relief in the form of a motion to quash or modify under section 2703 (d).[FN1] It is manifest that to adequately protect the service provider's interests, the denial of a motion to quash or modify is appealable as it is a final determination on the propriety of the government's intrusion on those interests. The right to appellate review is part of the statutory framework that protects a service provider from government overreach. As the dissent explains, at the heart of our Fourth Amendment protections is the protection of privacy rights against the power of government (see dissenting op at 1-7, 40-42). The type of intrusion at issue here is even broader in many respects than those so familiar to the founders when they ratified the Fourth Amendment. Contrary to the majority's view, appealability of an order denying a motion to quash is not subject to our state procedural rules governing warrants, because such an order is authorized under section 2703 (d), not 2703 (a). Unlike subsection (a), which expressly refers to state procedures, there is no such language attached to a section 2703 (d) order denying a motion to quash. Absent language indicating the Congressional adoption of state procedures that would limit the protections specifically designed to address the concerns of service providers, there is no legal authority or reason to impose state laws and rules governing state criminal matters on the SCA. Moreover, the majority ignores the balance of interests reflected in the SCA when it concludes that a service provider who challenges an SCA warrant should be treated the same as a challenger to a subpoena under any other statute. In the latter case, the party has two options: comply or refuse to comply and, if cited, litigate the propriety of the subpoena in a contempt proceeding. The SCA, however, does not impose on service providers this binary, which fails to account for the realities of a technological world of open access and constantly shifting [*14]boundaries of personal privacy. The SCA balances the interests of government and the service provider so as to avoid the disclosure to law enforcement of https://law.justia.com/cases/new-york/court-of-appeals/2017/16.html 14/44