Washington, DC (Feb. 6, 2017) – Today, the House of Representatives passed the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 387). 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. The bill passed overwhelmingly in the last Congress 419-0.
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is heartened that the House of Representatives has strengthened the Fourth Amendment protections by ensuring that the government must obtain a warrant based on probable cause to access email content and other electronic communications and content stored in the cloud. NACDL remains concerned, however, that the bill as amended removes the requirement for law enforcement to provide notice to an individual that their electronic communications and documents stored online, such as emails, texts, photos, and notes, among others, have been obtained from their provider and provides no remedy to those whose communications may have been obtained improperly.
NACDL President Barry J. Pollack said: "Today's passage of the Email Privacy Act by the House is an important step in updating laws passed more than 30 years ago designed to protect the privacy of electronic communications. While the bill falls short of protecting the privacy of electronic communications as they are used in the 21st century, the bill represents a significant improvement over the dated laws currently on the books. NACDL strongly urges passage of this legislation by the U.S. Senate."
To learn more about NACDL's work in the area of privacy and the Fourth Amendment, visit http://www.nacdl.org/fourthamendment.
Also visit NACDL's 2012 white paper: "Electronic Surveillance & Government Access to Third Party Records."
Contacts
Ivan J. Dominguez, NACDL Director of Public Affairs & Communications, (202) 465-7662 or idominguez@nacdl.org for more information.
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL's many thousands of direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling up to 40,000 attorneys – include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness and promoting a rational and humane criminal legal system.