Time to Upgrade 28-Year-Old Electronic Privacy Law?

Apple Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are putting new pressure on Congress to update a 28-year-old law that governs how the federal government can obtain U.S. citizens' electronic data.

The technology giants joined dozens of tech companies, civil liberties groups and other organizations last month in calls to congressional leaders to hold votes on Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) reform bills. The measures, which were introduced last year, have bipartisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

The House legislation, the Email Privacy Act, from Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS), has 263 Republican and Democratic cosponsors but is pending in committee. The Senate bill, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act, from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), has six Republican and Democratic cosponsors and is waiting for consideration by the full Senate.

In letters to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Apple, Google, Microsoft and the other organizations said an update to the ECPA would address the “deeply held concerns of Americans about their privacy.” See, http://bit.ly/1rNarBG and http://bit.ly/WNDa0A.

The bills are intended to remove differences between the steps the government takes to obtain data from personal hard drives and the processes it follows to get individuals' data from cloud-computing services, which didn't exist when the ECPA became law in 1986.

“We believe [the measures] would pass overwhelmingly, proving to Americans and the rest of the world that the U.S. legal system values privacy in the digital age,” the organizations wrote in their letters.

The tech industry has said an ECPA update would help address privacy concerns it has had with the federal government after former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed the agency's wide-ranging data gathering last year. In August 2013, for example, The Software Alliance and other tech groups wrote a letter to the White House urging the Obama administration to support ECPA reforms as part of any effort to address privacy worries after Snowden's revelations.

Microsoft and other organizations also have called for an update to the Stored Communications Act (SCA), which is part of the ECPA, to help the company in its battle against a U.S. search warrant for customer data it has on a server in Ireland. The SCA specifically concerns customer data stored by companies.

Steptoe & Johnson LLP partner Michael Vatis, who represents Verizon Communications Inc., which has backed Microsoft in its campaign, said in July that Congress should provide clarity on how the SCA should operate with today's technology. See, “Microsoft Disputes US Warrant for Data Stored Overseas,” Corporate Counsel. But he wasn't optimistic about quick action by Congress, which is in session for only about two weeks this fall before the November elections.

“Congress is going to be unwilling to act because Congress can't act on anything right now,” he said. “This is probably going to fester for a while.”

Andrew Ramonas is a Reporter for Corporate Counsel, an ALM sibling of e-Commerce Law & Strategy.

Apple Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are putting new pressure on Congress to update a 28-year-old law that governs how the federal government can obtain U.S. citizens' electronic data.

The technology giants joined dozens of tech companies, civil liberties groups and other organizations last month in calls to congressional leaders to hold votes on Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) reform bills. The measures, which were introduced last year, have bipartisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

The House legislation, the Email Privacy Act, from Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS), has 263 Republican and Democratic cosponsors but is pending in committee. The Senate bill, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act, from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), has six Republican and Democratic cosponsors and is waiting for consideration by the full Senate.

In letters to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Apple, Google, Microsoft and the other organizations said an update to the ECPA would address the “deeply held concerns of Americans about their privacy.” See, http://bit.ly/1rNarBG and http://bit.ly/WNDa0A.

The bills are intended to remove differences between the steps the government takes to obtain data from personal hard drives and the processes it follows to get individuals' data from cloud-computing services, which didn't exist when the ECPA became law in 1986.

“We believe [the measures] would pass overwhelmingly, proving to Americans and the rest of the world that the U.S. legal system values privacy in the digital age,” the organizations wrote in their letters.

The tech industry has said an ECPA update would help address privacy concerns it has had with the federal government after former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed the agency's wide-ranging data gathering last year. In August 2013, for example, The Software Alliance and other tech groups wrote a letter to the White House urging the Obama administration to support ECPA reforms as part of any effort to address privacy worries after Snowden's revelations.

Microsoft and other organizations also have called for an update to the Stored Communications Act (SCA), which is part of the ECPA, to help the company in its battle against a U.S. search warrant for customer data it has on a server in Ireland. The SCA specifically concerns customer data stored by companies.

Steptoe & Johnson LLP partner Michael Vatis, who represents Verizon Communications Inc., which has backed Microsoft in its campaign, said in July that Congress should provide clarity on how the SCA should operate with today's technology. See, “Microsoft Disputes US Warrant for Data Stored Overseas,” Corporate Counsel. But he wasn't optimistic about quick action by Congress, which is in session for only about two weeks this fall before the November elections.

“Congress is going to be unwilling to act because Congress can't act on anything right now,” he said. “This is probably going to fester for a while.”

Andrew Ramonas is a Reporter for Corporate Counsel, an ALM sibling of e-Commerce Law & Strategy.