Leahy, Lee: ECPA Reform Needed To Preserve American Right to Privacy
Privacy "is an American issue,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in an interview with the nonprofit FreedomWorks on why his Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), co-sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, should be passed. Privacy needs to be protected, Leahy…
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said when asked why ECPA reform was needed. When an email was sent in 1986, the email lasted only for a few weeks due to a shortage of memory, he said. Now with the technological advances such as the cloud, emails last forever, Leahy said. “Law enforcement shouldn’t be able to just take something because it has been sitting there for weeks.” Law enforcement “shouldn’t be able to just walk into the cloud and take something,” just like how they can’t walk into your house and take something without a warrant, he said. There's overwhelming support from the public to pass this legislation, Lee said. “Most of our colleagues understand this resonates with voters,” he said. “What keeps us ultimately safe is our privacy,” Leahy said. If we “give up our privacy, we change as a country,” he said. The right of privacy remains the same even though technology changes, he said.