CDT Joins Amicus Brief to Uphold Pillar of Federal Communications Privacy Law
On February 24, CDT joined an amicus brief in the California Supreme Court to defend critical privacy protections for users of messaging services like Snapchat and Facebook. Alongside the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Mozilla, we urged the court to overturn a lower court ruling that disregards 40 years of precedence and shatters the privacy rights guaranteed under the federal Stored Communications Act (SCA).
The SCA, enacted in 1986, ensures that private electronic communications remain protected from unauthorized access by the government and other third parties. However, a recent decision by the California Court of Appeal in Snap v. The Superior Court of San Diego County threatens these safeguards. The court’s ruling held that the SCA does not apply to services like Snapchat and Facebook because they retain user content for business purposes—an interpretation that, if upheld, could strip privacy protections from a vast range of modern communications platforms.
Users should not lose fundamental privacy rights simply because the services they rely on also engage in advertising or other data-related practices. We believe strong legal protections for online privacy are essential to preserving free expression and digital rights. We urge the California Supreme Court to correct this mistake and reaffirm the SCA’s role in safeguarding modern electronic communications.
