Technology

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today celebrated the long-awaited House passage of the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699). 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… Read more »

AMERICA’S Founding Fathers would be surprised to see who has emerged to defend the Constitution from the post 9/11 thrashing it’s received in Washington, D.C. As the nation’s press corps shrinks, Congress waffles and the U.S. Supreme Court slogs on with an unfilled seat, technology companies are stepping forward to protect citizens’ basic rights from overreaching… Read more »

Last year, the FBI flew a fleet of drones (a.k.a “unmanned aerial vehicles”) over Seattle and other cities. They were equipped with cameras capable of snapping thousands of high-resolution photographs, and may have carried devices that could capture emails, phone calls, texts and location data. One focus of the agency’s surveillance was the protests over the Ferguson,… Read more »

Almost everyone retains old e-mails, some with important and sensitive information. And yet we'd bet few people realize that if e-mails date back more than six months and are stored on a third-party server, the government doesn't need a warrant to look at them. "At this moment, law enforcement can access American citizens' emails without a warrant, even though the exact… Read more »

Dear Friend, On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee passed a long-awaited update to the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), a great step forward for Americans’ civil liberties and the competitiveness of the U.S. technology sector. The Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699) – a bipartisan bill with more than 300 House cosponsors – would finally require law… Read more »

In 1986 the Internet was just an experimental form of communication between a handful of academics, and yet more than 30 years later, Americans’ online email privacy laws remain stuck in the pre-internet era. At this moment, law enforcement can access American citizens’ emails without a warrant, even though the exact same messages in paper form would require a… Read more »

A key House panel voted Wednesday to pass an email privacy bill that would stop the government from being able to read Americans' old emails without a warrant. The House Judiciary Committee voted 28-0 to approve the Email Privacy Act, a bipartisan bill that would replace a 1986 law that allows government investigators to peruse emails at will if the… Read more »

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today celebrated the long-awaited House Judiciary Committee passage of the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699). 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… Read more »

Supporters of email privacy legislation will not rely solely on stand-alone legislation to get their measure passed by year's end.  If the bill fails to get through both chambers during a tight election-year schedule, the sponsors will press to attach it as a rider to either spending or authorization bills.  Click here for the full story. Read more »

Even for politicians who knew that government law enforcement agencies were regularly watching American cities from above, the dense pattern of circles on the maps BuzzFeed News published last week, showing more than four months of flights by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), were an eye-opener. Click here to read the full story. Read more »