Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., commended Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., for seeking...
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., commended Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., for seeking to reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), ahead of Thursday’s Judiciary Committee meeting. The committee agenda for the 10 a.m. executive business meeting includes consideration of HR-2471, a…
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House-passed bill which aims to clarify U.S. law to permit “video tape service providers” to obtain a consumer’s informed written consent on an ongoing basis via the Internet. A committee spokeswoman said that Chairman Leahy plans to include language to update ECPA in the bill (WID Sept 12 p6). Wyden told reporters Wednesday he hopes the Senate can update the 26-year-old law to address changes in technology. “Certainly it would be my intention when any privacy legislation comes to the floor that we try to add the legislation I'm offering with [Rep. Jason] Chaffetz,” he said. In June Wyden and Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, introduced the Geolocational Privacy and Surveillance Act (S-1212, HR-2168) in order to resolve legal ambiguities over how citizens’ geolocation data are treated by companies and law enforcement agencies. But Leahy must first overcome the opposition to the bill from committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Wyden said. “Last I heard is that there were some privacy issues that Senator Grassley had raised,” said Wyden. Grassley held over the committee’s consideration of HR-2471 in last week’s executive business meeting because he said it could adversely impact ongoing Justice Department operations and unduly burden law enforcement agencies. Grassley said state and local law enforcement officials are particularly concerned that the bill could impact cases where time is of the essence, like kidnapping and child abduction cases. Grassley told us Wednesday he’s unsure if Leahy’s staff members have addressed his problems with the legislation, during an interview at the Capitol. “As I stated last week in the executive meeting I'm confident that we can work things out but I don’t know whether they have been worked out yet.” Leahy had no comment.