Policy

ACLU: IRS Spying on E-Mails Without Warrant, Despite 2010 Court Ruling

Surprised?

|

A bundle of documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request suggests that the nation's tax collector may have ignored a court ruling in 2010 that ordered it to always obtain a warrant before spying on emails stored on cloud servers, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said Wednesday.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), commonly thought of as accountants with the power to garnish wages and seize property, is also a law enforcement agency with the power to spy on communications, so it's not totally surprising that it has typically followed Supreme Court precedent regarding law enforcement's broad spying powers when it comes to emails more than 180 days old.