Tell Senate to Pass the Email Privacy Act House Bill with No Changes

The Email Privacy Act, H.R. 699 (the bill to update ECPA), will be marked up by the Senate tomorrow, May 26, 2016. When the bill comes up, we want the Senate to pass the bill as it passed in the House – without any changes.

It’s essential the bill remains “clean” and passes through the Senate as-is to maintain the privacy protections it puts into place. The House bill was already the product of compromise, so the Senate bill should not make any additional concessions to law enforcement.

These are the items law enforcement is asking for that should not be included:

• New mandatory emergency disclosure language that allows law enforcement to get users’ private information without a court order – which would open up a huge exception to the warrant requirement and room for abuse. Current language includes a means for voluntary disclosure. Learn More

• An effort to allow the FBI to obtain private user information using a “national security letter “without obtaining a warrant or court order. This would be a large step backwards in requiring proper judicial process. Learn more.
• A “civil carve-out” being sought by the SEC. As we’ve previously written about, we are not in favor of this carve out. Learn More.

What Can You Do?

Contact your Senator now and tell them to pass the House Email Privacy Bill without change. You can find your senator using this tool, then click the link below their name labeled “Contact” to contact them: Contact your Senator now.

Learn More

• Details can be found in these Digital Forth talking points
• Learn more about ECPA