The Internet Association Statement on Bipartisan Leahy-Lee ECPA Reform Bill ECPA law must be updated for the digital age

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Internet Association, the unified voice of the Internet economy, representing the interests of leading global Internet companies including Airbnb, Amazon.com, AOL, eBay, Expedia, Facebook, Google, IAC, LinkedIn, Monster Worldwide, Rackspace, salesforce.com, TripAdvisor, Yahoo!, and Zynga, issued the following statement regarding Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introducing a bill today that would reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). The Internet Association supports updating the ECPA privacy law.

“America’s online privacy law was written 30 years ago, before the birth of the modern Internet. Currently, law enforcement agencies are not required to obtain a warrant to access email and other online documents stored for longer than six months. This analog era law must be updated for the digital age. The Internet Association strongly supports updating our privacy laws to preserve the principle that law enforcement access to online content should require a warrant, no matter where it is stored or for how long .An email in your inbox deserves the same legal protections as a letter in your mailbox.”

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