Case 1:20-mc-00036-JEB-ZMF Document 22 Filed 09/22/21 Page 9 of 32
III.
ANALYSIS
A.
SCA Applicability
SCA Background
Congress passed the SCA in 1986, prior to the existence of modern-day social media. See
William Jeremy Robison, Free at What Cost?: Cloud Computing Privacy Under the Stored
Communications Act, 98 Geo. L.J. 1195, 1204–05 (2010). “To apply the [SCA] to modern
computing, courts need to begin by” looking to the legislative history for the “problems that
prompted the need for the legislation.” Id. Congress was concerned that the absence of a clear
statutory framework regarding new communication technologies (1) “unnecessarily discouraged
potential customers from using innovative communications systems,” (2) “encouraged
unauthorized users to obtain access to communications to which they are not a party,” and (3)
“promote[d] the gradual erosion of the precious right to privacy.” S. Rep. No. 99-541, at 5 (1986);
see also Hately v. Watts, 917 F.3d 770, 783 (4th Cir. 2019) (detailing legislative history).
Yet, “there are many problems of Internet privacy that the SCA [did] not address. The
SCA is not a catch-all statute designed to protect the privacy of stored Internet communications;
instead it is narrowly tailored to provide a set of Fourth Amendment-like protections for computer
networks.” Anzaldua v. Ne. Ambulance & Fire Prot. Dist., 793 F.3d 822, 839 (8th Cir. 2015)
(quoting Orin S. Kerr, A User’s Guide to the Stored Communications Act, and A Legislator’s
Guide to Amending It, 72 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1208, 1214 (2004)).
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