Now Is The Time To Reform Outdated Electronic Privacy Laws

from the vanishing-rights dept

Wed, Sep 18th 2013 3:17pm — Mike Masnick

Given everything that's been going on with the stories of NSA surveillance lately, it's more clear than ever that our electronic privacy laws are broken. For many years, we've written about the drastic need for ECPA reform. ECPA is the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which was passed in 1986. As you can imagine, it's exceptionally outdated and convoluted (such as claiming that any emails on a server for more than 180 days should be considered "abandoned" and available for law enforcement to read -- a concept that makes no sense in an era of hosted email with tremendous storage). ECPA is regularly abused by law enforcement agencies seeking information on Americans. This goes well beyond what the NSA is doing in many ways. There's been support in Congress in the past for ECPA reform, but it's never quite made it.

A large group of organizations and companies -- including us at Floor64/Techdirt, along with (among others) EFF, Center for Democracy and Technology, Free Press, Fight for the Future, Demand Progress, ACLU, Engine Advocacy, CCIA, American Library Association, reddit, DuckDuckGo and more -- have teamed up to create VanishingRights.com, to push for a much needed update to ECPA's outdated rules. Instead, we'd like to see a return to basic 4th Amendment ideas like requiring a warrant to search for info. Sounds crazy, I know, but we're in an age where we actually have to tell Congress that it's time to respect the Constitution, because they seem to forget about it all too often.

The latest proposal to support ECPA reform, called the Email Privacy Act, or HR 1852, was introduced by Rep. Kevin Yoder and has 137 co-sponsors -- so it has significant support in Congress. But it needs more support if it's actually going to pass in this do-nothing Congress that we have.

Please check out the site, where you can let your elected officials that ECPA needs to be reformed, and that it should respect the basic tenets of the 4th Amendment. You can also read more about ECPA, why it's broken, and what it means for your privacy.

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Filed Under: 4th amendment, ecpa, ecpa reform, email, privacy, vanishing rights, warrants

15 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 18 Sep 2013 @ 3:24pm

And while they're at it, remove the insane restrictions on frequency coverage of radio receivers.
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out_of_the_blue, 18 Sep 2013 @ 3:41pm

To prohibit Google reading your Gmail? ... Oh, thought not.
Gov't is actually a minor player in the loss of privacy: corporations not only have larger systems, but will sell all that they glean to the gov't, anyway. So why focus on ECPA?

Corporatist Mike is all for reforms so long as ineffective, wants mega-corporation Google free to spy all it can and monetize your lost privacy. That laissez-faire "no evidence of real harm" attitude is enough to guarantee that trends will continue.

Who is "us at Floor64/Techdirt"? What the heck does Floor64 sell? Inquiring minds want to know, and no, there's no answer on the Floor64 page, just buzzwords and bafflegab...

When you think surveillance or spying or snooping, think Google!
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- silverscarcat (profile), 18 Sep 2013 @ 3:56pm
  
  Re: Knock it off already
  Sheesh, you're nothing more than an asshat at this point.
  
  Yes, we get it, they're spying on us, but at least Google doesn't have a fucking military and spy operation that can over-throw a 3rd world country's leader, instill a dictator that is oppressive that will then cause trouble in that part of the world a couple decades later.
  
  You know, like the U.S. Government did.
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- James Burkhardt (profile), 18 Sep 2013 @ 5:48pm
  
  Re: To prohibit Google reading your Gmail? ... Oh, thought not.
  The idea would be that a 4th amendment respecting ECPA reform would/should criminalize the very "google spying" you are worried about. Its not just about government spying, its about any sort of espionage. If its criminal for google employees to read your emails or give those emails to a third party, you are protected against a whole lot more then just government spying. By assuming google is getting a free pass, you are setting up a strawman.
  
  And you realize that your ISP, the browser you used to post and the NSA all took some data from your visit and post right? But only one of those was doing it without any input from you.
  
  P.S. Floor 64, from a quick read of the 'about' page, is a company providing analysis of industry trends and changes to industry practice and the underlying economic effects, to corporate clients. And thats without, you know, asking nicely.
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- Anonymous Coward, 18 Sep 2013 @ 6:32pm
  
  Re: To prohibit Google reading your Gmail? ... Oh, thought not.
  I don't use Gmail, so I have no idea what you're trying to say.
  
  Have a drive-by DMCA vote.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Sep 2013 @ 6:10pm

It's nice to see some kind of spying protections being seriously considered in Congress.
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Anonymous, 18 Sep 2013 @ 6:41pm

Government just makes problems worse. That's been its history.
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mime, 18 Sep 2013 @ 7:51pm

The law is good as it stands
Good for them. It's selectively enforceable.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Sep 2013 @ 8:51pm

all these companies
and only 8 comments..

you're losing it masnick, it's just a matter of time, already no one is listening to you anymore...

oh the price of the abuse of power, what little you have.
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- Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2013 @ 1:13am
  
  Re: all these companies
  How's the solar panel wife, fucked her until your phallus shattered yet, fucktard?
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2013 @ 6:00am

and it's exactly why it wont be done. there is no way that this or any other government is going to allow the people to have back that which they took from them, ie, privacy and freedom! that couldn't be done anyway without changing the way the entertainment industries constantly trample on peoples rights and demand more surveillance of IP addresses etc, just to prevent them from having to join us all in the digital age, compete in the market place and give customers what they want!
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2013 @ 8:47am

You should dump "Fight for the Future"
They're spamming assholes and have no right to have a seat at the table.
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Hephaestus (profile), 19 Sep 2013 @ 10:32am

LOL ... 1986 when a large hard drive was 20 meg, and the size of a red brick.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2013 @ 8:44pm

Quote of the Day
"do-nothing Congress" �Mike Masnick 2013

Rated 5 stars ✶✶✶✶✶
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Jared, 22 Sep 2013 @ 6:36pm

The scope and use of electronics has changed drastically since 1986 so it seems highly likely some major changes need to be made to protect privacy.
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