ECPA Reform Passes the House -- Unanimously

Paul Rosenzweig
Wednesday, April 27, 2016, 4:41 PM

As I've previously written, the Congress has been considering updating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The Act, first adopted in 1986, does not have a warrant requirement for government access to the content of older, stored email. I have testified in favor of modernizing ECPA to remove this historical oddity. Today, the House unanimously passed the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699) today by a vote of 419-0.

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As I've previously written, the Congress has been considering updating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The Act, first adopted in 1986, does not have a warrant requirement for government access to the content of older, stored email. I have testified in favor of modernizing ECPA to remove this historical oddity. Today, the House unanimously passed the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699) today by a vote of 419-0.

Action now moves to the Senate where Senators Mike Lee and Patrick Leahy have introduced a similar measure.

I think it says almost everything you need to know about the possibility of swift Congressional action in this space that the first such proposal to revise ECPA was introduced 3 years ago.

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Paul Rosenzweig

Paul Rosenzweig

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Paul Rosenzweig is the founder of Red Branch Consulting PLLC, a homeland security consulting company. He formerly served as deputy assistant secretary for policy in the Department of Homeland Security. He is a professorial lecturer in law at George Washington University, a senior fellow in the Tech, Law & Security program at American University, and a board member of the Journal of National Security Law and Policy.
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