CDT To Urge Changes To ECPA
The Center for Democracy and Technology is working to build a coalition to push for changes to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The 1986 law established rules for government access to, use of, disclosure of and interception of electronic communications.
"The bottom line is that it's been widely recognized that ECPA is out dated, that it does not respond to major developments like cloud computing, location based services" and other technological developments, CDT Vice President for Government Policy Jim Dempsey said.
CDT is expected to unveil the new ECPA coalition in the next few weeks. In calling for new privacy rules to help enhance user confidence in cloud computing, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said during a speech at the Brookings Institution last month that Microsoft supports CDT's efforts.
He noted that while ECPA "has in fact played a vital role by providing Americans with statutory privacy protection for electronic and stored communications," it was enacted before the commercialization of the Internet. "Over the past two decades, technology has moved forward and the law has become increasingly antiquated as a result," Smith said. "We now need new action by Congress to modernize the protection of privacy and fill in these legal gaps."
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., also has voiced interest in examining changes to ECPA. He said Friday that he plans to hold a hearing on ways to update the act. "Congress must work with the Justice Department, privacy advocates and the technology industry to update and clarify the law to reflect the realities of our times," Leahy said in a statement in response to a federal appeals court hearing Friday that examined authorities' access to cell phone location data.
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