US Senate considers changes to Electronic Privacy Law
In 1986, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), with the admonition that “privacy protections must advance with technology, or privacy will gradually erode as technology advances.”
The committee again met Wednesday to deliberate over updates to the aging law. Chairman of the committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), said that “while still a useful tool for our government, today, ECPA is a law that is hampered by conflicting standards that cause confusion for law enforcement, the business community and American consumers alike.”
“With the explosion of cloud computing, social networking sites, and other new technologies, determining how best to bring this privacy law into the digital age will be one of Congress’s greatest challenges,” continued Sen. Leahy.
He complained in addition that the law, from a data collection standpoint, doesn’t plainly stipulate how information on the location of mobile phones can be accessed during criminal or national security investigations. Law enforcement agencies are forced to contend with different interpretations from different courts of the ECPA.
In 2010, the Digital Due Process group — which includes Google, Microsoft, Amazon.com, the Center for Democracy & Technology, and Salesforce.com, among others, began a drive for the law to be updated, clarified, and simplified.
The Department of Justice however, has in opposition indicated its satisfaction with the current thresholds for accessing people’s private information. Associate deputy attorney general for the Department of Justice, James A. Baker, in addressing the committee on Wednesday said “the government’s ability to access, review, analyze, and act promptly upon the communications of criminals that we acquire lawfully, as well as data pertaining to such communications, is vital to our mission to protect the public from terrorists, spies, organized criminals, kidnappers, and other malicious actors.”
Mr. Baker also advised that people’s online privacy would be improved by giving government easier access to private data. “By authorizing law enforcement officers to obtain evidence from communications providers, ECPA enables the government to investigate and prosecute hackers, identity thieves, and other online criminals. Pursuant to ECPA, the government obtains evidence critical to prosecuting these privacy-related crimes.”
According to General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Commerce, Cameron F. Kerry, in his address to the committee, “the departments of Commerce and Justice have been working together to develop a specific set of legislative proposals, but they’re not ready yet.” , Mr. Kerry gave no timeframe for their completion.
More on this story can be found here.
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