Unlikely Allies Join in a Push to Require Warrants for Access to Digital communications

In the hyperpartisan world of contemporary Washington politics, it would seem unlikely that Republican anti-tax warrior Grover Norquist and liberal civil liberties groups like the ACLU would be fighting together on any issue. But one law has brought together Norquist and the ACLU, as well as tech giants like Google and other Internet providers.

That law is the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. A broad and diverse coalition is demanding that Congress update the law to protect emerging Internet technologies. They believe that the law, passed in the pre-Internet era, fails to protect Americans’ digital communications from government eavesdropping and surveillance. But the Department of Justice and several other federal agencies are resisting some of the proposed changes.