Reference no: EM133813638

Question

The ECPA was originally enacted in 1968 and applied to landlines. After 9/11, the USA Patriot Act and subsequent Amendments clarified the ECPA to include interceptions involving computers and other wire, oral, and other electronic communications.

Some argue that the statute, even as amended, could be improved to better protect consumer privacy. The original drafters intended to protect people from entities or individuals that unlawfully intercepted private communications and without consent of the parties. Entities used that improperly obtained information against people in court and other proceedings. The legislatures' goal was to protect the privacy of the communications, the integrity of the courts, for crime prevention, and to prevent the obstruction of justice.

The epic article outlines some problems with the dated ECPA and modern technology. For example, courts have struggled over whether the ECPA covers the manner in which emails are transmitted. It's also unclear how the ECPA applies to data stored on cloud servers. Some legislatures have proposed revising the statute. Some of those proposals include, the Email Privacy Act of 2016, amending a company's disclosure requirements during times of emergencies, or allowing law enforcement to access browsing history and location information with a National Security Letter.