NACDL News: NACDL Welcomes House Passage of Email Privacy Act

The House Judiciary Committee passed out of committee the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699) by a vote of 28-0 on April 13, 2016. This bill is a long overdue update of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), a bill passed in 1986 that governs the treatment of electronic communications. The Email Privacy Act establishes that law enforcement officers must obtain a warrant to access the content of most electronic communications and cloud-stored content from third-party providers and eliminates the arbitrary rule that would allow the government to obtain emails older than 180 days with a subpoena. On April 27, the Email Privacy Act passed the full House by a unanimous vote of 419 to 0.