Stored Communications Act (SCA)
Definition
Part of the US Electronic Communications Privacy Act (18 U.S.C. 2701-2712) that governs government access to stored electronic communications and data. It sets out the three-tier process: subpoena for subscriber records, court order for metadata, and search warrant for content. Many non-US jurisdictions have equivalent statutes with similar threshold structures.
Related terms
- MLAT (Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty)
- A bilateral or multilateral treaty framework through which countries agree to provide legal cooperation in criminal investigations, including compelling disclosure of evidence...
- Account attribution
- The process of linking a pseudonymous or anonymous online account to a real-world identity. Methods include IP log analysis, device fingerprinting, cross-platform...
- CLOUD Act
- The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (US, 2018). Clarifies that US service providers must comply with valid US legal process...
- Forensic capture
- Tool-based documentation of online content that records the URL, timestamp, and page hash alongside the visible content. Preferred over manual screenshots in...
- Google Legal Investigations Support
- Google's process for handling law enforcement requests, documented at its transparency report portal. Google distinguishes between emergency disclosure requests (no legal process...
- iCloud backup
- A daily encrypted snapshot of an iPhone or iPad stored in Apple's cloud. Includes app data the developer marks for backup, device...
- OSINT (open-source intelligence)
- Intelligence gathered from publicly available sources without special legal authority. In social media investigation, OSINT covers all content visible to any user:...
- Preservation letter
- A formal written request to a cloud provider asking it to preserve a specific account's data for a defined period, typically 90...
- Preservation request
- A formal letter sent to a platform asking it to freeze and retain specified account data pending formal legal process. Under 18...
Explained in these topics
- Cloud Account ForensicsPart of the US Electronic Communications Privacy Act (18 U.S.C. 2701-2712) that governs government access to stored electronic communications and data. It sets...
- Online Account and Social Media InvestigationUS federal statute (18 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2713) that governs law enforcement access to stored electronic communications held by third-party providers. It establish...