WASHINGTON – Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Pat Leahy (D-VT), Dean Heller (R-NV), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Steve Daines (R-MT), Cory Gardner (R-CO), and Al Franken (D-MN) introduced the Email Privacy Act Thursday, a bill that would update federal privacy law for email retention.

“The Electronic Communications Protect Act was written 30 years ago before the widespread use of email,” Sen. Lee said. “Americans now expect that their email communications will have the same privacy protections as their written communications. This bill would provide that common sense protection.”

The Email Privacy Act would require law enforcement to go before a judge and get a search warrant based on probable cause whenever it seeks to obtain our emails, photos, or texts held by technology companies. This bipartisan bill updates the 1986 Electronic Communications Protect Act (ECPA), which currently allows the government to take your private information from third parties if that information is older than 180 days.

Email Privacy Act by Senator Mike Lee on Scribd