Email Privacy Act

Key Points

• This bill eliminates the outdated 180-day rule that let the government access older stored emails without a warrant. Now, law enforcement would need a judge-approved warrant to access any stored electronic communications, regardless of how old they are.
• The warrant requirement extends to both electronic communication services and remote computing (cloud) services, meaning your emails, cloud files, and private messages all get the same Fourth Amendment-style protection.
• Tech companies and service providers would be allowed to tell you when the government requests your data, unless a court specifically orders secrecy. This shifts the default toward transparency for users.
• The bill preserves Congress's own subpoena power and does not change the rules when communications involve employees of the provider acting in their official capacity, or when the communication is publicly available advertising.
• Introduced with bipartisan support by Rep. DelBene (D) and Rep. Davidson (R), the bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee. It updates the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 to reflect how people use the internet today.

Votes

No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.