Under current laws that were drafted before the advent of the commercial Internet, authorities can gain access to mobile phone and many email records without a court-issued warrant. The 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act was originally designed to protect Americans from Big Brother and from government overreach. The law is now so outdated that it actually provides legal cover for the very sort of overreach it was designed to prevent. The Center for Democracy & Technology, a policy think-tank based in Washington, D.C., has a concise and informative primer on the law.”]
Source: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/12/help-bring-privacy-laws-into-21st-century/