2.
Other Aspects of the Statute
In addition to the text’s plain meaning, other aspects of the statute confirm its
focus on privacy.
As we have noted, the first three sections of the SCA contain its major
substantive provisions. These sections recognize that users of electronic
communications and remote computing services hold a privacy interest in their stored
electronic communications. In particular, § 2701(a) makes it unlawful to “intentionally
access[] without authorization,” or “intentionally exceed[] an authorization to access,” a
“facility through which an electronic communication service is provided” and “thereby
obtain[], alter[], or prevent[] authorized access to a wire or electronic communication
while it is in electronic storage.” Contrary to the government’s contention, this section
does more than merely protect against the disclosure of information by third parties.
By prohibiting the alteration or blocking of access to stored communications, this
section also shelters the communications’ integrity. Section 2701 thus protects the
privacy interests of users in many aspects of their stored communications from
intrusion by unauthorized third parties.
Section 2702 generally prohibits providers from “knowingly divulg[ing]” the
“contents” of a communication that is in electronic storage subject to certain
enumerated exceptions. 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a). Sections 2701 and 2702 are linked by their
parallel protections for communications that are in electronic storage. Section 2703
governs the circumstances in which information associated with stored
communications may be disclosed to the government, creating the elaborate hierarchy
of privacy protections that we have described.
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