ECPA (1986)
ECPA is why a subpoena, a court order and a warrant reach different records. It took the 1968 wiretap law, extended it to the networks of 1986, and added the two statutes a records-production desk lives by.
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA)
ECPA amended the Wiretap Act. It extended the privacy protection of the Wiretap Act so it covered not only telephone conversations but also cellular radio calls and computer transmissions; the exception for lawful electronic surveillance was extended to the new services as well.
It added the group of provisions known as the Pen Register Act, which permits a court to authorize a law enforcement agency, on a showing of relevance, to monitor the inbound and outbound signaling of a suspect's communications but not their content. Monitoring signaling information is legally treated as less privacy-sensitive than monitoring content.
And it added the Stored Communications Act (SCA), which protects the privacy of stored communications records such as telephone or cellular billing records. A law enforcement agency may obtain these records from a provider under legal standards lower than probable cause, because a records disclosure is deemed less privacy-sensitive than the real-time content surveillance the Wiretap Act governs — which is why the SCA reaches records in tiers: basic subscriber information on a subpoena, transactional records on a § 2703(d) court order, content on a warrant.
The parts that matter to a provider.
Title I · The Wiretap Act, extended
Real-time interception of the content of wire, oral and electronic communications, authorized on a probable-cause showing under a Title III order.
Title II · The Stored Communications Act
18 U.S.C. §§ 2701–2713. What a provider may and must disclose from stored records, against which instrument: subpoena, § 2703(d) order, warrant. Also preservation requests (§ 2703(f)), emergency disclosure (§ 2702), and cost reimbursement (§ 2706).
Title III · The Pen Register Act
18 U.S.C. §§ 3121–3127. Pen registers and trap-and-trace devices — dialing, routing, addressing and signaling information, without content — on a certification of relevance.
Does this apply to you?
Every provider of electronic communication service or remote computing service to the public — carriers, ISPs, VoIP and hosted providers — and every law enforcement request for their records or their subscribers' communications.
ECPA, full text
Hosted in full by Subsentio. Opens in a new tab.
Other primary documents.
CALEA Act of 1994
What CALEA (1994) requires, section by section — definitions, capability, security, safe harbor, enforcement — with the full text to download.
CALEA Broadband Coverage Order (2005)
The 2005 FCC order that extended CALEA to facilities-based broadband and interconnected VoIP providers — what it decided, why, and what it left open.
CALEA Capability Order (2006)
The 2006 FCC order that set the May 14, 2007 deadline, permitted Trusted Third Parties, required SSI filings and monitoring reports, and settled who pays.
The Wiretap Act (1968)
The 1968 statute behind every Title III order: a general prohibition on intercepting communications, with a court-supervised exception on probable cause.
FISA (1978)
What FISA authorizes — foreign-intelligence surveillance of foreign powers and their agents under the FISA court — and what a FISA order means for a carrier.
USA PATRIOT Act (2001)
What the USA PATRIOT Act changed for communications providers: FISA, the pen-register statute, the Stored Communications Act and emergency disclosure.