ArsTechnica: Google stands up for Gmail users, requires cops to get a warrant | As e-mail privacy laws stall in Congress, Google pushes for stronger standard by Cyrus Farivar:

The United States remains far ahead of all governments who request user information from Google, according to the company’s latest Transparency Report (July through December 2012) which was released on Wednesday.

American government agencies (including federal, state, and local authorities) made over 8,400 requests for nearly 15,000 accounts—far exceeding India, the next largest country in terms of information requests. In 88 percent of those queries, Google complied with at least some, if not all, of the requests.

For the first time, the search giant is also breaking down the type of legal requests that were made.

Google said that 22 percent of those requests were made under probable cause driven search warrants delivered via the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Authorities have also been known to request information using ECPA subpoenas, which are much easier to obtain. It's unclear how many of the subpoenas or warrants Google complied with—the company has only said it complied in part or in full to 88 percent of total requests from American authorities.

"In order to compel us to produce content in Gmail we require an ECPA search warrant," said Chris Gaither, Google spokesperson. "If they come for registration information, that's one thing, but if they ask for content of e-mail, that's another thing."

GooglePublicPolicy.blogspot: Transparency Report: What it takes for governments to access personal information by Richard Salgado, Legal Director, Law Enforcement and Information Security

The numbers:

•68 percent of the requests Google received from government entities in the U.S. were through subpoenas. These are requests for user-identifying information, issued under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“ECPA”), and are the easiest to get because they typically don’t involve judges.
•22 percent were through ECPA search warrants. These are, generally speaking, orders issued by judges under ECPA, based on a demonstration of “probable cause” to believe that certain information related to a crime is presently in the place to be searched.
•The remaining 10 percent were mostly court orders issued under ECPA by judges or other processes that are difficult to categorize.

http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2013/01/transparency-report-what-it-takes-for.html

It is settled, as of now at least because the issue is in SCOTUS, that a drug dog alert is probable cause. United States v. Salgado, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8808 (D. S.D. January 17, 2013).* [Note: This long discussion of what a drug dog does and why, including accuracy, seems almost like a prelude to imposing Davis-type good faith on drug dogs if SCOTUS reverses in its current cases.]

Officers had knowledge of a small drug sale by defendant, and that was probable cause to stop him. United States v. Elliott, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8829 (E.D. Mich. January 23, 2013).*

Defendant consented to a search while on state parole. He was a fugitive from supervision, and officers were looking for him. When he was found, he’d put a gym bag in a car. The gym bag was properly searched. United States v. White, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9122 (S.D. Ill. January 23, 2013).*

There was clearly probable cause for the automobile exception in this case, and defense counsel was not deficient for not filing a motion to suppress on what would be a frivolous ground. Marin-Vega v. United States, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8593 (M.D. Fla. January 22, 2013).*

DigitalCrazyTown: Google Exec: Data Privacy Laws Violate the Fourth Amendment by Cynthia Brumfield:

(Washington, DC) The main existing law that limits the scope of law enforcement electronic snooping violates the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution when it comes to Internet communications, a top Google expert said here today. Speaking at the Congressional Internet Caucus' Annual State of the Internet Conference, Google's Director of Law Enforcement and Information Security Richard Salgado said that "our view is that the statute [the Electronic Communications Privacy Act or ECPA] is out of compliance with the Fourth Amendment because the government can call for the production of your data without a search warrant." The Fourth Amendment guards against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.

ECPA, drafted in the 1980s when telephones were the primary mode of electronic communications, does not extend to email or other forms of Internet communication. Under ECPA, government authorities can and do request user information records with either commonplace, easy-to-issue subpoenas or with little more than written notices stating that the data are pertinent to an investigation. Telephone wiretaps, on the other hand, are usually subject to more stringent requirements for search warrants, which are issued by courts and judges and are based on the legal standard of probable cause.

Two queries:
(1) Why is this website the first to report this?
(2) Why isn't Google, with more money than the U.S. Government, not litigating this? Or are they waiting for the right opportunity to sue?

This just states the obvious: Technology can overwhelm statute, and that makes it unconstitutional. That's exactly what happened with ECPA.