Your emails can be read by investigators if 180 days or older

The government passed a federal communications law that now allows investigators to read any email 180 days or older -- without a warrant.

The computer users we met at Kaladi Cafe in Seattle were surprised.

“Wow. I didn't know that,” said Elen Tessfamariam

“I doesn't concern me personally, but it concerns me on a political level,” said Christopher Roberts

In the '80s and '90s email was kept on your personal computer -- which law enforcement needed a warrant to search.

But now email is usually kept on a computer server like those at Microsoft’s facility in the Grant County town of Quincy.

For the first six months, it still takes a warrant from a judge for law enforcement to access your email.

But after 180 days, it's legally considered to be “abandoned” on the server and the government doesn't have to get a warrant.

“It's like all eyes on you and you can't necessarily be yourself,”   Elen Tessfamariam

That fear is what computer specialist Phil Mocek is fighting against.

“Email should be treated like other communications.  And the fact that I've left email longer than six months in my inbox does not indicate that government agents should be able to read it any more easily that they can read email that I received yesterday,” he said.

You can delete your old emails, but since they live on a cloud computer server somewhere there is still a possibility they could be found.

“You don't have the same privacy protections for digital information that you have for physical information,” said Congresswoman Suzan DelBene, a Democrat representing Washington’s first district.

DelBene points out the federal law with the loopholes was passed in 1986. That was the year IBM invented the first laptop computer. And it was long before we were sending and receiving emails on our phones.

Now DelBene is co-sponsoring the new email Privacy Act -- to give warrant protection to your emails, no matter how old

“It's important that we update our laws and that our laws work the way the world works today.”

That’s something the email users we met will be relieved to see.

“It seems like that's a problem that it's really that easy to get them. It should be subject to a warrant process,” Christopher Roberts said.

DelBene says you should always be careful with email passwords, but until Congress acts, your email privacy is still at risk.

We checked with Microsoft which told us it routinely demands a warrant before releasing any email no matter how old, and that law enforcement agencies routinely comply.

Want to talk about the news of the day? Watch free streaming video on the KIRO 7 mobile app and iPad app, and join us here on Facebook.