One of the things this missed is that there are other laws on the books besides CALEA that do apply to electronic and digital communications. Some do not apply

One of the things this missed is that there are other laws on the books besides CALEA that do apply to electronic and digital communications. Some do not apply specifically to Apple or Google, while others will. The FBI will often subpoena information from Apple and Google using 18 U.S.C. § 2703: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2703 http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2703 * Contents of Wire or Electronic Communications in Electronic Storage. * Contents of Wire or Electronic Communications in a Remote Computing Service. * Records Concerning Electronic Communication Service or Remote Computing Service. * Requirement To Preserve Evidence For example, you can see Apple's handling of this in their legal process guidelines, where they admit to being able to give "subscriber information ... mail logs ... photos and videos in the users’ camera roll, device settings, app data, iMessage, SMS, and MMS messages and voicemail" information from iCloud synced iOS8 devices: http://images.apple.com/privacy/docs/legal-process-guidelines-us.pdf http://images.apple.com/privacy/docs/legal-process-guideline... The Patriot Act: * Section 202 - Authority to intercept wire, oral, and electronic communications relating to computer fraud and abuse offenses * Section 204 ("Clarification of intelligence exceptions from limitations on interception and disclosure of wire, oral, and electronic communication") both removed restrictions put in place on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and broadened the law to include electronic communications. The FISA concerns itself with communications that travel internationally as sometimes happens with domestic electronic communications. It is also complicated legal issue with regard to foreign datacenters and international geo-redundancy. * Section 2703, applicable to a "provider of electronic communication services" forces the disclose the contents of stored communications and in addition allows this to be done with a search rather than a wiretap order. * Section 210 - "Scope of subpoenas for records of electronic communications" sets some rules for electronic records including things like IP addresses and session records. * Section 211 expands the ability of the US to get records from cable television. * Section 215 - Access to records and other items under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act expands the list of records to include 'tangible things' such as "books, records, papers, documents, and other items". * Section 216 "Authority to issue pen registers and trap and trace devices" applies to electronic communications as much of Bush era legislation expanded 'pen registers' to the digital domain. That's just the Patriot Act. Here's Wikipedia's first paragraph on the Stored Communications Act: `The Stored Communications Act (SCA, codified at 18 U.S.C. Chapter 121 §§ 2701–2712) is a law that addresses voluntary and compelled disclosure of "stored wire and electronic communications and transactional records" held by third-party internet service providers (ISPs).` The Stored Communications Act defines the legal framework used for digital pen registers and wiretaps on an ISP level.