Comment Case by Case (Score 1) 150
It's up to a judge to decide what kind of warrant gets served.If they can authorize the search of a person's home and the arrest of that person, I don't see why they shouldn't be able to authorize the search of a person's full Gmail account if the need arises. As long as it's not a secret court and all due process is followed, then we're doing the best we can.
The linked article makes no mention of the details of this court case. We have no idea why this Gmail account is being searched, who the Gmail account belongs to, how the search will be carried out, or how much data this particular Gmail account even contains. There's also no indication that the police will indefinitely retain a copy of the account, as some above have speculated. If they do, THAT is the problem, not the search itself.