Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Quick details on H.R. 983, the ECPA reform bill announced today

From House Representative Zoe Lofgren's release:

Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), Ted Poe (R-TX) and Suzan DelBene (D-WA) today introduced bipartisan legislation modernizing the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA. Consumers and businesses are increasingly using cloud computing and location-based services, but the law has failed to keep pace with technology – leading to weak and convoluted privacy protections from government access to user data. The bill, H.R. 983, the Online Communications and Geolocation Protection Act, would strengthen the privacy of Internet users and wireless subscribers from overbroad government surveillance by requiring the government to get a warrant based on probable cause before intercepting or forcing the disclosure of electronics communications and geolocation data.

A copy of the bill can be found here: H.R. 983 - Online Communications and Geolocation Protection Act

A summary (section by section) of the major changes can be found here: H.R. 983 Summary of Changes 

The bill requires, inter alia, a warrant for GPS tracking and CSLI tracking, with limited exceptions (FISA, emergency, consent, etc.). Another section from the Rep. Lofgren's release sums it up nicely:

Rep. Lofgren's Online Communications and Geolocation Protection Act would apply Constitutional privacy guarantees under the Fourth Amendment to an individual's digital communications and location data while minimizing the impact on law enforcement investigations. The bill would: 
Require the government to obtain a warrant to access to wire or electronic communications content; 
Require the government to obtain a warrant to intercept or force service providers to disclose geolocation data; 
Preserve exceptions for emergency situations, foreign intelligence surveillance, individual consent, public information, and emergency assistance; 
Prohibit service providers from disclosing a user's geolocation information to the government in the absence of a warrant or exception;
Prohibit the use of unlawfully obtained geolocation information as evidence; 
Provide for administrative discipline and a civil cause of action if geolocation information is unlawfully intercepted or disclosed.



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