Letter to Members of Congress - Email Privacy Act

Letter

Dear Colleague:

Ever think Eric Holder's March Madness bracket looked a lot like yours? Stop the madness, cosponsor the Email Privacy Act!

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) was written in 1986, long before Gmail and Facebook, allows our government to seize e-mail and other digital communications without a warrant provided the emails are over 6 months old.

It defies common sense that emails should be less protected than postal mail. Please cosponsor the Email Privacy Act (HR 1852) to require the government to get a warrant based on probable cause to access emails regardless of their age or status. Senator Leahy has introduced a companion bill, S. 607. which is supported by ACLU, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, the U.S. Chamber, Adobe, Amazon, AOL, Dropbox, eBay, The Internet Association, Mozilla, Twitter, Yahoo!, and dozens more.

H.R. 1852 -- the Email Privacy Act would:

Affirm that Americans have reasonable expectation of privacy in their email accounts and other personal and professional content stored online.

Require the government to get a search warrant based on a showing of probable cause in order to compel a service provider to disclose communications that are not readily accessible to the public with-- regardless of the age of the communications or the means of their storage

Preserve the legal tools necessary to conduct criminal investigations and protect the public, (Nothing in the bill alters warrant requirements under the Wiretap Act, FISA, or any other law)

Sincerely,

Rep. Jared Polis

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