Laws Regarding the Retrieval of Text Messages in Pennsylvania
Text messaging has become a ubiquitous part of society, so much so that many times people who drive don't even wait till they're at a stop light to send a reply. While Pennsylvania doesn't yet have a statewide regulation on that, there are regulations regarding the retrieval and viewing of text messages on a phone. Mostly the regulations state that cell phone instant messaging falls into the same category as wiretapping by the authorities, and since Pennsylvania is a two-party consent state where everyone has to agree to recording, this can be a lot of work for the police.
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Pennsylvania Wiretapping Law
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The wiretapping laws in Pennsylvania state that if a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, then you need that person's permission to record the conversation. This is called two-party consent, where everyone must agree to a recording for it to be legal. So, whether you're calling a phone number or sending a text message to it, the general expectation is that the message will reach the person you intended, who is the owner of the phone. This is different from, say, having a conversation face-to-face in a public space where anyone could listen to what's being said. No permission is required there, and recording devices could be used easily.
Warrants
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The way that police gain exceptions to these legal restrictions is to get a warrant from a court. If the police convince a judge that there are legal grounds for a wiretap warrant, then all information that the police subsequently gain from recording is considered valid and admissible in court, as long as it doesn't go beyond the bounds of the warrant. In order to get a warrant, police must demonstrate probable cause of a crime to a judge, showing that information already in their possession makes a strong case for being allowed to invade the suspect's privacy in order to follow the trail of evidence.
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Text Messages
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Pennsylvania considers text messages in a phone to be, legally, the same as a conversation had on that phone. This means that you need a warrant to retrieve or use them, especially if you're sending messages to a subject in hopes of getting responses that can be used as evidence in court. Rather than being a receptacle for information, like an envelope, the texts are considered the same as spoken words due to their instantaneous nature.
Saved Retrievals
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Text messages that have been saved in the past, or backed up elsewhere, are a gray area in the ruling. In this case these messages might be considered recordings, such as voice recordings on an answering machine. The rules might be different, but a warrant will still need to be issued by the court in order to give police full access to the records.
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References
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