Technology

House passes bill requiring warrants for email searches

| Posted in In the News

A bill aimed at modernizing the United States's aging law covering law enforcement access to emails and other stored files passed the House Monday night.  The current law, known as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, allows law enforcement to access any stored files without a warrant if such material is left on a third-party server for more than 180 days. But that law was…

Video: Tech on The Hill with Rep. Suzan DelBene

| Posted in In the News

When former Microsoft Corp. executive Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) returned for the 115th Congress, it didn’t take long for her to address one of the issues racking the tech industry: President Trump’s campaign promise to create a religious registry for Muslims in the U.S. “This is a key area of concern given what’s happened with the recent executive order,”…

DelBene Lauds House Passage of Email Privacy Act

| Posted in Press Releases

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today celebrated House passage of the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 387). This legislation would update the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the main statute governing law enforcement access to digital records and content, such as email. The bill would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant to access emails. Current law allows law…

Congress must restore 4th Amendment protections for email privacy

| Posted in In the News

Congress is attempting to fix the problem by restoring the Fourth Amendment. The Email Privacy Act, just re-introduced in the new Congress by Reps. Kevin Yoder (R-Kansas) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) would force the government to obtain an individualized warrant before searching anyone’s email.  Congress is attempting to fix the problem by restoring the Fourth Amendment. The…

Biopharma executive-turned-lawmaker: Want breakthroughs? Fund research

| Posted in In the News

It was during the House special investigation into stem cell research that Democratic Rep. Suzan DelBene had had enough. Still in her second term at the time of the September hearing, the Washington state congresswoman was mercilessly excoriating her Republican colleagues’ decision to investigate fetal tissue science, an effort she saw as a shameful attempt to harass those…

House bill aims to block tech giants from building "Muslim registry"

| Posted in In the News

A new House bill would prevent the incoming government from forcing tech companies to build a so-called Muslim registry. The bill, dubbed the No Religious Registry Act, is set to be reintroduced by Rep. Suzan DelBene (WA, 1st) after it failed just days after now president-elect Donald Trump won the election. It comes after the Republican candidate made repeated calls for a "total and…

Communicators with Representatives Darrell Issa and Suzan DelBene

| Posted in In the News

Representatives Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Suzan DelBene (D-WA), co-chairs of the Internet of Things Caucus, talked about technology and internet issues facing Congress and the incoming Trump administration. Topics included how technology devices were becoming needs instead of choices, and how the privacy, operations, and security aspects of devices and services were beginning to intersect…

Email Privacy Act reintroduced after stalling in Senate last year

| Posted in In the News

The Email Privacy Act, which would require law enforcement get a warrant before searching emails and online communications older than 180 days, was reintroduced Monday by a bipartisan group of House lawmakers. The bill is meant to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which considers communications older than 180 abandoned and therefore fair game to search without a…

DelBene Joins Colleagues in Reintroducing the Email Privacy Act

| Posted in Press Releases

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers in reintroducing the Email Privacy Act. This legislation would update the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the main statute governing law enforcement access to digital records and content, such as email. The bill would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant to access emails. Current…

Editorial: Tech help, not backdoors, better law enforcement tool

| Posted in In the News

The importance of data security and encryption — starting with our smartphones and our email and other online accounts on up to corporate and government data servers — should be more than clear now, following the revelations of Russian hackers attempting to mess with the U.S. presidential election, not to mention Yahoo’s repeated security breaches involving millions of…