It’s always been a weird thought that once you send a piece of email from your client that it belongs to the owner of every server it spools on. Strange? That’s how the courts had ruled in the late 90s, if I remember correctly. Now, the judge ruled:

Given the fundamental similarities between email and traditional forms of communication [like postal mail and telephone calls], it would defy common sense to afford emails lesser Fourth Amendment protection…. It follows that email requires strong protection under the Fourth Amendment; otherwise the Fourth Amendment would prove an ineffective guardian of private communication, an essential purpose it has long been recognized to serve

It looks like the EFF had a lot to do with the ruling, and that’s just excellent. If you need someone to donate money to, the EFF is a deserving group.