Appeals court to reconsider e-mail snoop case
Order reinstates charges against a former executive for Amazon.com accused of snooping on clients' e-mail messages.
Declan McCullagh Former Senior Writer
Declan McCullagh is the chief political correspondent for CNET. You can e-mail him or follow him on Twitter as declanm. Declan previously was a reporter for Time and the Washington bureau chief for Wired and wrote the Taking Liberties section and Other People's Money column for CBS News' Web site.
A federal appeals court said Tuesday that it will reconsider its that dismissed a case against a man accused of snooping on clients' e-mail messages. In that case, which has drawn fire from Capitol Hill, a three-judge panel said that Bradford Councilman, a former executive for an online bookseller, did not violate federal wiretap laws by allegedly snooping on e-mail that Amazon.com sent to customers through accounts Councilman provided.
The U.S. Justice Department had asked the full 1st Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case. Tuesday's order reinstated the charges against Councilman and scheduled oral arguments for Dec. 8 in Boston.