Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is considering releasing an amendment to...
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is considering releasing an amendment to reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) in response to an ECPA reform amendment from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., which will be considered during a Thursday meeting…
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of the committee. Leahy, who faced criticism last week when a draft of the amendment circulated online with more exceptions on which agencies would need a warrants to access stored communications, released Monday the text of the amendment to be discussed Thursday (http://xrl.us/bn3r5r). “This critical privacy law is significantly outdated and out-paced by rapid changes in technology and the changing mission of our law enforcement agencies,” he said in a statement, and he said he joins “the many privacy advocates, technology leaders, legal scholars and other stakeholders who support reforming ECPA to improve privacy rights in cyberspace.” Grassley is still deciding whether to introduce his own amendment, the senator’s spokeswoman said, because the Leahy “amendment was just released last night and is still being vetted.” “That process takes time, especially when the bill is written behind closed doors,” she said in a statement. “To be clear, Senator Grassley does not support an unauthorized dragnet of internet and email surveillance by law enforcement and believes personal privacy protections need to be in place."