Mashable: Everything Congress is Doing on Cybersecurity Right Now
Mashable: “…If passed, the “Email Privacy Act” would be the first update to email privacy law in almost 30 years.
The bill, which was introduced by Reps. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., and Jared Polis, D-Colo., in February, is an amendment to 1986’s Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Under that law, government officials are currently free to obtain and read anyone’s online messages — including emails — without a warrant, as long as the records are more than six months old.
While the bill has earned tremendous support in the House — 292 co-sponsors, enough for a supermajority — it has struggled to get past committee and onto the chamber’s floor for a vote. Whether the bill clears its first hurdle is up to Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., who chairs the House Judiciary Committee.
Chris Calabrese, Vice President of Policy at the Center for Democracy & Technology and a member of the Digital 4th Coalition, a bipartisan group that has lobbied to update the ECPA, said the bill’s supporters are working with Goodlatte to address lingering concerns.
One sticking point has been whether the bill would hamper civil enforcement agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Internal Revenue Service, which can’t get search warrants, Calabrese said.
‘[But] the reality is they have lots of other tools to get what they need,’ Calabrese said. ‘They can subpoena people directly, they can work with an employer to get employee’s emails, and judges can sanction people who don’t comply with the discovery process.'”