Congress Might Actually Be Moving Forward On Fixing Outdated Email Privacy Law!
from the didn't-see-that-coming dept
We've been talking about and asking for ECPA reform for many, many years, and it might finally be moving forward. ECPA is the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which details how the government can get access to your electronic communications. The law was written in the early 1980s, and as you've probably noticed, we live in a very different world these days as it pertains to electronic communications. One key example: the law says that messages left on a server for more than 180 days are considered abandoned and can be searched without a warrant. That may have made some sense (though, not really) in a client-server era, where everyone downloaded their messages leading to them being deleted from a server, but it makes no sense at all in an era of cloud computing.The main foes against updating ECPA have been government agencies that have investigatory powers, but not the ability to get a warrant -- mainly the SEC and the IRS, with the SEC being the real stumbling block. The SEC really liked the fact that it could snoop through emails without a warrant. So, even with massive support in Congress, ECPA reform never went anywhere.
So it was a bit surprising to folks this week to see Rep. Bob Goodlatte announce that the Judiciary Committee will now markup the ECPA reform bill, meaning that the bill is moving forward again. It's not entirely clear why it's happening now, but at the very least, it sounds like the SEC's constant protests may no longer be an obstacle. Hopefully it does move forward, and whatever results from the process leads to much stronger privacy protections on electronic communications, such as actually requiring a warrant, like the 4th Amendment says should happen.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: bob goodlatte, ecpa, ecpa reform, electronic communications, email, irs, judiciary committee, markup, sec, surveillance
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Re: The SEC really liked the fact that it could snoop through emails
Maybe it is like condiments. You don't really want it, but you expect them in the bag with your fries anyway.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: The SEC really liked the fact that it could snoop through emails
It's anecdotal. I've read many articles here mentioning it. I'm sure if you searched through them, at least one would mention, or allude to, where it came from.
As for arrests, it's just like lawsuits. Agree to pay the fine/judgment, and the lawsuit (or charges) will disappear, with no judgment entered into the books. No precedent to go from either. Handy that. All parties involved happily agree to bury the controversy quietly.
Sucks to be the poor slob that runs into the same wall next time.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Mike is very often a writer in a hurry. He's a busy guy watching lots of stuff that I can't be arsed to keep up with. I appreciate his energy and enthusiasm, especially when he gets enthused about stuff that I couldn't be bothered to track and which bore me to death.
Specialists vs. generalists. We all contribute in our own ways.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Maybe Wall Street Trail Covering
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Yeah, Right
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Yeah, Right
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Yeah, Right
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
It May Soon Be More Outdated Than You Think
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
By the way, go see The Big Short.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
It's all about "effects"
The Fourth Amendment covers not just our persons, houses and papers, but our "effects" too. There is no cloud - it's just another computer hard drive where I keep my effects.
Just as the 4th says "houses" and not "homes," my "effects" need not be limited to what I download from the server; they include what I house somewhere else.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: It's all about "effects"
Consider IMAP or GMail (cloud computing). The whole point is to leave it on a server, because you want it left there. This law abuses modern practices egregiously by being stupid about it. It's been wrong for decades, and tenaciously avoiding learning the truth of what's actually happening in reality.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: It's all about "effects"
I strongly suspect that the original comparison was to, not a safety-deposit box, but a post-office box. The mechanics are much the same; mail comes in, it's put in the box, and from time to time the recipient comes and takes it out, to read and process as desired. If the mail is left in the box without being taken out for long enough, it's considered abandoned, and can be examined under the right circumstances. As long as the analogy holds, this treatment seems reasonable.
By contrast, in a modern E-mail system, you often no longer take mail out of the box; instead, you read it, sort it, and leave it there in case you want it later. The original analogy to a post-office box has broken down, and it is no longer reasonable to apply the same rules.
Unfortunately, since the entrenched interests benefit from applying the same old rules in this new situation where they no longer make sense, getting the rules updated to reflect the changes since the days of the original analogy has proved to be fairly difficult.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cynic in me
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What, the egregious overreach of the surveillance state is starting to make even institutional investors nervous? I'd take that as a definite win for all of us yammering about this on the net. We finally raised the temperature and got through to them, forcing them to accept there's something funny going on that they need to care about.
Supertankers don't turn quickly, but they can still turn. That's a happy Friday news story.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]