Can the governement read your email without a search warrant?

Once upon a time, the government had a virtual [sic] carte blanche to read email that was kept on a "public" server, but not the email on a machine you own. I think the idea at the time was basically that, if you left it out there, it was fair game. Of course, fast forward a few decades, and people no longer automatically download all their email to a home machine. Many of us opt instead for the convenience of email-to-go. Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo all let you keep the email on their servers.

We have an illusion of privacy with our password-protected accounts, and I am betting that many of us did not know that the government does NOT need a search warrant to get the goods on our personal email.

Personal space, even in virtual form, is something I believe should not be given up lightly. I do not believe that "you should have no problem with it, if you have nothing to hide." I do believe that there needs to be a review of the laws surrounding privacy and how it can be reasonably maintained in an increasingly electronic world. Law has simply not kept up with technology, and that can be a dangerous thing.