(Washington, D.C.) – Today, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) applauds the House of Representatives for passing H.R. 699, the Email Privacy Act, by a unanimous vote of 419-0.

The bill updates the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which was written to provide clarity to laws covering wiretaps and intentional electronic eavesdropping, making these activities a federal crime.  While a warrant was required to obtain information, ECPA contained an arbitrary “180-day rule,” which permitted electronic communications to be seized without a warrant after 180 days.

Advances in technology over the past 30 years have rendered ECPA out of date.  The law was written long before individuals and companies connected with each other electronically and stored information through email and in the cloud.

The Email Privacy Act ends the “180-day rule,” and also rejects the Department of Justice’s longstanding interpretation of ECPA that the act of opening an email removes it from warrant protection.  The Email Privacy Act also ratifies Sixth Circuit Court’s decision in U.S. v. Warshak, which held that email content is protected by the Fourth Amendment and that law enforcement access requires a probable cause warrant signed by a judge.  In other words, email is now afforded the same protection from search and seizure as the contents of someone’s backpack or anything in their home.

CCAGW President Tom Schatz said, “The protection of Americans’ personal documents, emails, photos, and financial records stored on their personal devices or in ‘the cloud’ should be a key concern for everyone.  Passage of the Email Privacy Act is an important step forward to modernize privacy protections for electronic communications so that everyone can send and receive emails without fear that the government will read or seize them without due process.”

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.