Remember the ECPA? The bill, and others like it, would require government officials to obtain a warrant before requesting emails and other communication data from any Internet service provider. Some in government don’t like that proposed requirement very much, and…
Texas Kind Of Protects Your Email Privacy With New Law
Before the NSA leaks, everybody thought the worst the government could do was obtain your email without a warrant. Well, they can still do that, but Texas has just made it harder for local law enforcement to do the same.…
Sen. Rand Paul Introduces Online Privacy Protection Bill
There’s not a lack of online privacy protection bills floating around Congress at the moment, but it can’t hurt to have one more. On Thursday, Sen. Rand Paul introduced the Fourth Amendment Preservation and Protection Act, or S. 1037, to…
Justice Department Says It May Support Email Privacy Bill
In the debate over email privacy, law enforcement has usually been on the side claiming a warrant requirement when accessing email would impede investigations. It’s a good sign then when the largest law enforcement agency – the Department of Justice…
Senate To Take Up Email Privacy Bill Today
UPDATE: And it passed. Last week, Sen. Patrick Leahy said that the Senate Judiciary Committee would be marking up an update to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The decades old bill allows law enforcement to obtain emails without a warrant…
IRS Tells Congress That It Obtains Warrants Before Searching Emails
Late last week, the ACLU reported that the IRS probably obtained emails without a warrant. The group came to this conclusion after an agency handbook from 2009 said that Internet users “do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.” Now…
Senate Judiciary Committee To Debate ECPA Reform This Week
ECPA, or the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, has long been in need of an update. The Senate tried last year, but ran out of time. Now it’s a priority and it will hopefully get the time it deserves this week.…
Congressman Wants The IRS To Explain Itself
It was revealed earlier this week that the IRS probably digs through your email without a warrant during its investigations. It’s able to do this thanks to the outdated ECPA which allows government agencies to obtain emails that are more…
The IRS Doesn’t Think The Fourth Amendment Applies To Your Email
The IRS runs a number of tax audits each year, and as such, has to obtain information on private citizens. If the information is in a physical format, the agency must obtain a warrant to access it. If it’s stored…
Rep. Louie Gohmert Thinks We’re Being Scroogled
Microsoft’s latest, and now retired, Scroogled campaign focused on accusations that Google violates your privacy by screening your emails and serving ads. It’s true that Google does serve ads on emails through a computerized algorithm, but one congressman has bought…