Earlier today I testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about a critical issue that affects anyone who has ever sent an email. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), designed to prevent unauthorized government access to private electronic communications, is sorely in need of an update.
We are generating an enormous amount of data every day — just think: over 90 percent of the world’s data was created in the past two years — but the policy environment tied to data services has not kept pace with this technological progress. The protections for our 21st-century world of software and data services are still mired in outdated 20th-century law.
ECPA was enacted in 1986; surely our technology laws should be more current than what was enacted during the year of the Iran-Contra Affair. Because of this gap, consumers, businesses and law enforcement all lack sufficient clarity and predictability about the regulations and laws that govern the gathering, storing, sharing, and beneficial use of data.
On behalf of members of BSA | The Software Alliance and the software industry as a whole, I urged Congress this morning to support efforts to update ECPA by: 1) protecting email communications from government intrusion without a warrant; and 2) providing clarity to technology companies on their legal obligations to law enforcement, so that providers can be transparent about how they treat customers’ information. This is not just a domestic concern. I also asked Congress to address emerging issues, specifically those related to demands for data held in one country by law enforcement agencies of another country. Just as US police can’t simply fly to another country and knock down a suspect’s door to raid their home, their jurisdiction online must be respectful of borders as well. Barging into a foreign data center would be a major invasion of that country’s sovereignty. Imagine the uproar if foreign police tried to a similar move in the United States.
It’s encouraging to see movement on this important issue by way of much-needed conversations taking place, and I’m honored to be a part of the discussion. You can read my full testimony here.
