Electronic Communications Privacy Act(ECPA)

Law

18 U.S.C. §§ 2510–2520  | (1986)

made it a crime to intentionally intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication or to use or disclose the contents of an intercepted communication, with some exceptions. The privacy of messages sent and received on a computer network is protected under this act. It also criminalized intentional unauthorized access to stored wire or electronic communications, and set out the authorization procedure that government agents must follow before placing a wiretap.