On February 24, the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) joined an amicus brief filed in the California Supreme Court. The brief was submitted to defend privacy protections for users of messaging services like Snapchat and Facebook. This action was taken alongside the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Mozilla, with a call for the court to overturn a lower court decision that disregards longstanding precedents under the federal Stored Communications Act (SCA).
The SCA, established in 1986, aims to protect private electronic communications from unauthorized access by both government entities and third parties. However, a recent ruling by the California Court of Appeal in Snap v. The Superior Court of San Diego County has challenged these protections. According to this ruling, the SCA does not apply to platforms such as Snapchat and Facebook because they retain user content for business purposes. If upheld, this interpretation could potentially remove privacy safeguards from numerous modern communication platforms.
The CDT expressed concern over this development, stating: "Users should not lose fundamental privacy rights simply because the services they rely on also engage in advertising or other data-related practices." They further emphasized that robust legal protections for online privacy are vital for maintaining free expression and digital rights.
In their appeal to the California Supreme Court, they stated: "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."
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