Tell the Government to Get a Warrant!

Letters to Editor

NACDL <cglen@nacdl.org>

	Take Action!
Protect the 4th Amendment by Supporting HR 1852
If you think the government should obtain a warrant to access personal electronic information such as e-mails and stored documents, you need to call your Representative as soon as possible and tell him or her to co-sponsor the E-mail Privacy Act (HR 1852). Your call will only take a few minutes, but will have a dramatic impact on preserving the privacy rights enshrined in the Fourth Amendment. Background: Congress is currently considering the E-mail Privacy Act (HR 1852), a bi-partisan bill that would update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA).  ECPA was passed in 1986 when e-mail was not widely used (‘e-mail’ as a term wasn’t even commonly used until around 1993!) and cloud storage was a futuristic fantasy.   ECPA says that government entities like the NSA, IRS, DEA, and even local government agencies can get e-mail records and documents stored in the cloud without first obtaining a warrant. The E-mail Privacy Act (HR 1852) would ensure that all government agencies obtain a warrant before accessing personal and private online communications.