When Congress enacted the Stored Communications Act of 1986 (SCA), it claimed the statute would guarantee the privacy of digital data that service providers were retaining in storage.

The act prohibited the providers from sharing the stored data, and it prohibited unauthorized access to the data, commonly called computer hacking — except, of course, if the recipients or the hackers were working for the federal government.

Just as it did with the Patriot Act of 2001 — which permits one federal agent to authorize another to conduct a search of stored data, without a judicially issued search warrant — the SCA permits judges to issue “orders” for searches without meeting the probable cause standard required by the Fourth Amendment.

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