Following the Senate’s September hearing, the House Judiciary Committee today held a hearing on reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the federal law that regulates government access to private communications records stored by online service providers. Congress is considering a pair of identical bills that would create a warrant requirement for any government entity that seeks personal content stored in the cloud: the Senate version is the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act (S. 356) while the House calls theirs the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699). Not only did several of the members attending the House hearing express support for H.R. 699, the bill now has over 300 co-sponsors and would overwhelmingly pass if brought up for a vote on the House floor. However, the Securities and Exchange Commission is once again asking for more authority than it has today—a proposal that unfortunately Chairman Goodlatte (R-VA) supports. ECPA as currently…
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