Can Some Internet Memes Finally Get Congress To Pass New Legislation To Protect Your Privacy Online?
from the the-last-time-we-reformed-our-privacy-laws... dept
For many, many years, we've been talking about the need for ECPA reform. ECPA -- the Electronic Communications Privacy Act -- is an incredibly outdated piece of legislation from the 1980s that governs law enforcement's ability to access email and other electronic communications. This was the era before the internet was anywhere close to the mainstream (though it did exist). Among the various weird parts of the law, it says that any communication that is over 180 days old and still on a server is considered "abandoned" so that the government can access it without a warrant. Think about that in this era when you keep all your communications online. It was written when lawmakers thought people would "download" the messages off a server. That's just the most noteworthy problem -- there are all sorts of different definitions based on messages that have been opened or not opened and other oddities as well, almost none of which make sense.Last year we noted that more than half of the House was co-sponsoring a bill put forth by Reps. Kevin Yoder and Jared Polis to reform ECPA in a big way. But even with so many supporting the law, it failed to move. A big hurdle? Both the IRS and SEC (note: not your standard law enforcement agencies) like the fact that they can use ECPA to snoop through electronic communications (without a warrant -- which those agencies can't get on their own anyway).
Yoder and Polis are back again with another attempt, and it's matched by a similar legislation in the Senate from Senators Patrick Leahy and Mike Lee. To get attention for the bill, Yoder, Polis and some other supporters took to Twitter in a bit of a meme fest, highlighting some historical facts to demonstrate just how long it's been since ECPA became law. It's worth scrolling through them all (though, there are a lot), because some are pretty funny:
Of course, this isn't the only effort going on to protect privacy. Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Ted Poe and Suzan DelBene have also introduced a bill to update ECPA. It's pretty clear that Congress knows that the law needs to be updated, and it's time to get past whatever objections there are and actually start protecting our privacy.
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Filed Under: communications, ecpa, ecpa reform, email, irs, jared polis, kevin yoder, memes, mike lee, patrick leahy, privacy, sec, suzan delbene, ted poe, zoe lofgren
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No need to be polite
Don't call it 'more convenient access', call it what it is, 'warrantless access'. That's the real sticking point for the IRS/SEC, the ability to go snooping without leaving a paper trail showing just what they are looking for, or having to convince a judge that they have sufficient evidence to go browsing in the first place.
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Who else has better need for online communication access.
IRS/SEC were used as puppets. Follow the strings, and the obvious shows itself.
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Horse before the Cart?
I guess what I'm getting at is if the government can legally bypass the very laws that we create to stop it from doing what it's doing, what use were those laws in the first place?
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Weak sauce
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memes
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I'm sensing a recurring theme in the selected memes..
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Re: I'm sensing a recurring theme in the selected memes..
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Re: Re: I'm sensing a recurring theme in the selected memes..
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Since when does Congress have to do what executive agencies tell them to?
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Re:
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Quite generous considering...
...in my area any physical property is legally considered abandoned after 30 days.
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Re: Quite generous considering...
Old emails are not being left in a public space, though. They are being left in private accounts that have a clear owner.
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Re: Re: Quite generous considering...
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Re: Re: Re: Quite generous considering...
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Re: Quite generous considering...
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Hopefully...
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
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No bulk email monitoring ever allowed, ever.
If the nsa or fbi or anyone else wants to monitor my email they must charge me with a crime first only then can they monitor my email and most defiantly not have access to anyone else using that email address.
Nothing else is necessary no other rules or laws necessary , email is private communication.
Anyone abusing the system and monitoring me and not charging me must be punished to the full extent and not allowed to seek monitoring of any more email accounts this included removing access to the NSA or FBI if they abuse the system.
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Re:
I'm pretty sure none of that stuff you want is actually true. Six month old emails stored on a server can be read without a warrant. Your email provider can decide to keep your deleted emails if they want to. The FBI can get a warrant and monitor your email without you knowing about it. The NSA pretty much scoops up all internet traffic. Sleep well.
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