Ironically, the ACT was a very vocal backer of Microsoft when the company was accused by European Union antitrust regulators of abusing its monopoly position.

Ware also dismissed the plaintiffs' charges that Google violated California business practice laws, but gave the plaintiffs until Aug. 1 to amend their complaint.

The demand by the 22 plaintiffs that their lawsuit be granted class-action status is still pending.

"This is just another in a whole long series of cases that, case after case, show that the ECPA is a complicated statute that's very hard to understand," said Dempsey of the CDT. "Congress needs to respond."

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at or subscribe to . His e-mail address is .