On Tuesday, the movement to reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) reached an historic milestone: The Email Privacy Act to update ECPA picked up its 218th cosponsor. This means an absolute majority of Representatives support legislation to require the government to get a warrant before accessing email.
Representatives Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Ted Deutch (D-FL), and Cedric Richmond (D-LA) were the 216th, 217th, and 218th cosponsors to join the Email Privacy Act. Introduced by Representatives Kevin Yoder (R-KS) and Jared Polis (D-CO), the bill enjoys rare levels of bipartisan support and is now cosponsored by a majority of Republicans in the House and a majority of the powerful Judiciary Committee. All these numbers mean one thing: If the bill were brought to a vote, it would be guaranteed to pass.
The House should now act swiftly to approve the bill. At a time of heightened public concern over privacy, ECPA reform is something Congress can accomplish this year. With elections right around the corner, Members of Congress can show they take their constituents’ privacy seriously—and that they can enact meaningful reform—by passing this bill. Voters are clearly looking to Congress to strengthen privacy protections. In a recent poll taken in seven politically diverse regions, an overwhelming majority of voters said they were more likely to support a candidate that backs ECPA reform.
Even law enforcement has acknowledged the need to update the antiquated statute. Recently, FBI Director James Comey said that amending ECPA to require a warrant “won’t have any effect on our practice.”
This leaves the Securities and Exchange Commission as the remaining source of opposition to a hugely popular and bipartisan bill. Some members of the SEC have opposed reform because they want the regulatory agency to have new powers to snoop on email without a warrant. However, the SEC cannot access mail held by the Postal Service or tap a phone, and it should not be afforded new powers to access content stored online.
The math is simple: A majority is in favor of ECPA reform to prohibit the government from accessing email without a warrant. Now, it’s time to pass the bill.
Coalition Urges Senate Not to Let Companies Waive Financial Regulations for AI
CDT joined AI Now Institute, American Civil Liberties Union, and several organizations dedicated to tech policy, consumer protection, and civil rights in a letter to Senate leadership and the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee opposing the “AI Innovation Labs” language in Sec. 10509 of the CLARITY Act.
Potential Avenues for Redress for AI-related Harms under EU Equality and Non-Discrimination law: A Visual Explanation
In this third instalment of the series, we look at the opportunities afforded by EU equality and non-discrimination law in providing redress for AI-related harms.
CDT-led Coalition Calls for Transparency for White House AI Framework
CDT and Americans for Responsible Innovation led a broad, bipartisan coalition of over two dozen civil society groups in calling on the White House to release its Framework for review of frontier AI models.
CDT Amicus Brief Calls on Fourth Circuit to Rein In Geofence Warrants
Earlier this year the Supreme Court ruled in Chatrie v United States that the Fourth Amendment protected all cell phone location information, which CDT lauded as a landmark decision, but sent the case back down to the Fourth Circuit to assess the propriety of the geofence warrant at issue.
