Polis, Yoder Bipartisan Email Privacy Amendment Unanimously Adopted in Committee

Press Release

Yesterday evening, an amendment authored by Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO), Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-KS) and Congressman Tom Graves (R-GA) was offered and unanimously adopted during a House Appropriations Committee hearing and will be included in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 budget for the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill. The amendment affirms agencies under the jurisdiction of the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill must extend the same Fourth Amendment privacy protections to electronic communications as they do to hard mail and other private documents. The amendment means government agencies must obtain a search warrant to obtain and view emails from third-party service providers that are over 180 days old or have been previously opened.

"Updating our digital communications privacy laws is long overdue," said Congressman Polis. "I am pleased that the Email Privacy amendment passed through the House Appropriations Committee with a bipartisan vote. Issues of civil liberties and privacy are a priority for all Americans, regardless of their political party. We in Congress have an obligation to provide people with additional privacy protections for all their emails and information remotely stored, such as on social networks."

"The IRS, SEC, and other government agencies have stated Americans don't have an expectation of privacy with their email. I completely disagree. By passing this amendment, the Appropriations Committee is taking a critical step towards ensuring all Americans are protected by the Fourth Amendment -- their mail, documents on their desks at home, and now their private emails," stated Congressman Kevin Yoder. "As the way we communicate with each other has dramatically changed over the past twenty years, our electronic communications laws have not kept pace. This amendment is a significant step, and I thank my colleagues for their support of my amendment."

Congressman Polis, along with Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-KS) and Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA) are the lead sponsors of H.R. 1852, the Email Privacy Act in the House of Representatives. This legislation continues to gain significant and broad bipartisan support in the House. H.R. 1852 currently has 132 co-sponsors; including 93 Republicans and 39 Democrats. The Email Privacy Act is the House companion to S. 607, a bill authored by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Mike Lee (R-UT) that cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee in April.

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