On the same day the House Judiciary Committee was talking
about updating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), Senate
Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy was already doing something about
it. Along with Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), Leahy introduced a bill to update
ECPA to protect digital privacy rights.
ECPA outlines the Fourth Amendment protections of stored
communications from unreasonable search and seizure, but was first passed in
1986 and has not been updated since 2001. "No one could have imagined just how
the Internet and mobile technologies would transform how we communicate and
exchange information today," Leahy said in a statement. "Privacy laws
written in an analog era are no longer suited for privacy threats we face in a
digital world."
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act of
2013 would, among other things:
- "[E]stablishes a search warrant requirement in order
for the government to obtain the content of Americans' emails and other
electronic communications, when those communications are stored with a
third-party service provider. - "[E]liminates the outdated '180-day' rule that calls for different legal
standards for the government to obtain email content depending upon the age of
an email, and - "[R]equires that the government notify an individual whose electronic
communications have been disclosed within 10 days of obtaining a search
warrant."
Lee's office said the bill is backed by "50
privacy, civil liberties, civil rights and tech industry leaders."
