{"id":21459,"date":"2017-02-07T06:24:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-07T06:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=21459"},"modified":"2017-02-07T06:24:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-07T06:24:00","slug":"u-s-house-passes-bill-requiring-warrants-search-old-emails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/technology\/u-s-house-passes-bill-requiring-warrants-search-old-emails.html","title":{"rendered":"U.S. House passes bill requiring warrants to search old emails"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tU.S. House passes bill requiring warrants to search old emails<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
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\n\tU.S. House passes bill requiring warrants to search old emails:- The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Monday to require law enforcement authorities to obtain a search warrant before seeking old emails from technology companies, a win for privacy advocates fearful the Trump administration may work to expand government surveillance powers.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe House passed the measure by a voice vote. But the legislation was expected to encounter resistance in the Senate, where it failed to advance last year amid opposition by a handful of Republican lawmakers after the House passed it unanimously.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tTechnology companies such as Microsoft (MSFT.O) have lobbied Congress for years to pass the Email Privacy Act, which updates a decades-old law to force authorities to first get a warrant to access emails or other digital communications that are at least 180 days old.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tCurrently, agencies such as the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission only need a subpoena, which is subject to less judicial oversight than a warrant, to seek such data from a service provider – a standard that has existed since the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) was adopted in 1986.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSupporters of the bill passed Monday say it is needed to update an out of date law conceived and written before the rise of the commercial internet.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tRichard Salgado, director of law enforcement and information security at Google (GOOGL.O), said in a statement the measure would "fix a constitutional flaw" in the ECPA. "While there are disagreements about other aspects of surveillance reform, there is no disagreement that emails and electronic content deserve Fourth Amendment protections," he said.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut some senators, including No. 2 Republican John Cornyn, last year sought to use the legislation as a vehicle for amendments that would expand the FBI's domestic surveillance capabilities, effectively killing the bill.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tDebate over law enforcement access to Americans' electronic communications intensified last year when the FBI sought a court order to make Apple help unlock an encrypted iPhone linked to one of the shooters behind a deadly attack in San Bernardino, California.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tPrivacy advocates have expressed alarm at President Donald Trump's ability to expand government spying. The Republican campaigned on a "law and order" platform that included suggestions he may want to place some mosques in the United States under surveillance and maintain a national database on Muslims.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMicrosoft last year filed a federal lawsuit against the Justice Department over ECPA, alleging that the government's use of the law violated the U.S. constitution.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIt argued that ECPA is too often used to prevent companies from notifying its users, sometimes indefinitely, when investigators pry into emails and other data stored on remote servers.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSource:- http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-usa-congress-emails-idUSKBN15L2N3<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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