Case 1:20-mc-00036-JEB-ZMF Document 22 Filed 09/22/21 Page 10 of 32 Protected User The Gambia argues that Myanmar officials are not protected “users” 4 under the SCA. See ECF No. 10 (Pet’r’s Reply) at 5–8. This is an issue of first impression that requires the Court to unpack the stacking doll of definitions in the SCA. An ECS is “any service which provides to users thereof the ability to send or receive wire or electronic communications.” 18 U.S.C. § 2510(15) (emphasis added). A “user” is “any person or entity who—(A) uses an [ECS]; and (B) is duly authorized by the provider of such service to engage in such use.” Id. § 2510(13). Person “means any employee, or agent of the United States or any State or political subdivision thereof, and any individual, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, or corporation.” Id. § 2510(6). The SCA does not define “entity.” The SCA defines “user” with the broadest possible language: “any person.” See § 2510(13). “Any person means any person, including foreign citizens.” Suzlon Energy Ltd. v. Microsoft Corp., 671 F.3d 726, 729 (9th Cir. 2011). The foreign government officials implicated here are undoubtedly “foreign citizens.” Moreover, the SCA’s definition of “person” is expansive: U.S. government agents and individuals. See § 2510(6). According to The Gambia, that U.S. government agents are listed separately from individuals means that agents are not considered individuals. See Pet’r’s Reply at 6. The Gambia further hypothesizes Congress, by explicitly listing U.S. government agents, intended to forego SCA protection for foreign government agents. See id. The natural reading of the statute dictates otherwise. The definition of “person” merely 4 The definition of “user” only operates to limit the designation of a provider as an ECS. According to 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(1), an ECS “shall not knowingly divulge to any person or entity the contents of a communication while in electronic storage by that service.” The definition of “user” does not affect the disclosure prohibitions in § 2702, which are absolute. The Gambia tries to give the definition of “user” much more power than it has. Congress could have limited the application of the SCA to the communications of particular users, but it did not. 10