A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has reintroduced a bill that would require law enforcement officials to secure a warrant to access emails.The Email Privacy Act aims to update the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act and would allow law enforcement to access emails older than 180 days through third-party providers without a warrant, Rep. Suzan DelBene’s (D-Washington) office said Monday.
Delbene joined Reps. Kevin Yoder (R-Kansas) and Jared Polis (D-Colorado) to push for the adoption of the bill, which passed the House last year through a 419-0 vote but was not acted on by the Senate.
The Email Privacy Act will remove the “180-day” rule; require a warrant to obtain content from providers; authorize companies to notify customers when the government requests their data; and allow government to request a judge-ordered delay of notification in certain circumstances.
DelBene said the legislation seeks to protect civil liberties in the digital age and that she will work to address other ECPA-related matters such as geolocation information and data stored overseas.
