Opinion ID: 4555772
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether Facebook Provides ECS

Text: Defendant and the district attorney implicitly assert that, even if Facebook does to some extent provide electronic storage that is “temporary [and] intermediate . . . incidental to the electronic transmission thereof” (§ 2510(17)(A)) — or “for purposes of backup protection of [a] communication” (§ 2510(17)(B)) — nevertheless, Facebook still falls outside Congress’s understanding of an entity that provides ECS. They argue that because (1) Facebook is authorized to mine, analyze, and share with third party advertisers licensed information about its users’ content (and actually does all these things), and (2) Facebook stores users’ communications indefinitely, lets users share the stored data with others, and facilitates manipulation of the data by the user thereafter, Facebook conducts itself in ways that go far beyond what Congress contemplated in 1986 that any ECS would undertake. Accordingly, they argue, a court should find that Facebook does not act as an entity that provides ECS with regard to communications such as those sought in this case, and hence is subject to a viable state subpoena. Facebook, for its part, asserts that it qualifies as a provider of ECS because communications such as those sought in this case are either in “temporary or intermediate storage” (§ 2510(17)(A)), or they are housed “for purposes of backup protection” (§ 2510(17)(B)) and thus are barred from disclosure under section 2702(a)(1). Facebook insists that whether it “has authority to access [a] communication in connection with the service is . . . irrelevant to whether [the communication] is in electronic storage.” 13 FACEBOOK, INC. v. SUPERIOR COURT Cantil-Sakauye, C. J., concurring Facebook relies on a number of decisions finding or stating that it qualifies as a provider of ECS. (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 41, fn. 18.) But as observed in In the Matter of the Application of the United States of America for a Search Warrant (D.Or. 2009) 665 F.Supp.2d 1210, 1214, whether an entity provides ECS, or RCS, or neither, is a context-dependent inquiry: The “distinction serves to define the service that is being provided at a particular time (or as to a particular piece of electronic communication at a particular time), rather than to define the service provider itself.” (Italics added.)9 Consistent with this understanding, other federal decisions have held that when an entity analogous to Facebook (in those cases, providers of e-mail and text messages) retains a communication beyond the initial sending and provisional backup stage, then once that message has been opened/accessed, the entity no longer acts as a provider of ECS but rather transforms 9 Accord, Kerr, A User’s Guide, supra, 72 Geo.Wash. L.J. 1208, 1215–1216: “The classifications of ECS and RCS are context sensitive: the key is the provider’s role with respect to a particular copy of a particular communication, rather than the provider’s status in the abstract. A provider can act as an RCS with respect to some communications, an ECS with respect to other communications, and neither an RCS nor an ECS with respect to other communications.” See also id., at pages 1216– 1218 [asserting that e-mails in transit or that have been delivered yet not opened, are stored by a provider of ECS; whereas e-mails that have been opened and left on a server are stored by a provider of RCS]. 14 FACEBOOK, INC. v. SUPERIOR COURT Cantil-Sakauye, C. J., concurring into a provider of RCS.10 Under the reasoning of these cases, the same would seem to apply concerning Facebook — in which event its conduct should be examined under RCS, rather than ECS standards. At least one court appears to have so held. (Crispin, supra, 717 F.Supp.2d 965, 987 [regarding private messages that had been opened, Facebook operates not as a provider of ECS, but as a provider of RCS].) Thus, whether Facebook should be found to qualify as a provider of ECS under the SCA appears open to question. Moreover, assuming that Facebook might qualify initially or provisionally as an entity that provides ECS, it seems that Facebook may also be obligated to establish its qualification as an entity that provides RCS with respect to stored communications sought in a viable state subpoena.