Summary: Top Ten Reasons to Reform Digital Privacy Rights By Scott Alford Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, was two years old when the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) was passed. ECPA, our digital privacy law, desperately needs an update. When Congress passed ECPA in 1986, today’s mass-marketed, high capacity computers were the stuff of sci-fi dreams. Digital technology is now a staple of modern American life. Originally, the ECPA legislation was an attempt to balance online privacy with law enforcement while further enhancing technological development. However, time has shown that privacy has not been respected. The opposite has happened, the federal government’s “national security” “rights” have greatly expanded. ECPA regulation should be reformed to adapt to current technology and to protect Constitutional rights in the digital realm. Here are the top ten reasons to reform Digital Privacy Standards. 1. Digital Privacy Standards Are Outdated ECPA was forward-looking legislation when it was created and the internet was still experimental. While the law has been patched and mended for over thirty years, much of it remains archaic. "No one could have imagined just how the Internet and mobile technologies would transform how we communicate and exchange information today," said Senator Leahy (D-VT), "Three decades later, we must update this law to reflect new privacy concerns and new technological realities." Digital Privacy Rights need to be brought “up to high speed,” to cover recent technologies and ensure we protect citizens’ constitutional rights. 2. The Law is too Complex and Vague Digital Rights Standards establish horribly confusing guidelines for how the government can access electronic information. Compounding this complexity is a series of paradoxical court decisions resulting in mixed enforcement and confusing judicial precedent. The law must be made consistent and simple. The legal framework of ECPA impedes the justice system and impedes law enforcement efforts and greatly complicates the training of computer crime investigators. ECPA must set a consistent standard regardless of technology or platform or whether the information is stored or transferred. The law must be simplified and made clear and consistent to protect rights, advance technology, and enhance Constitutional protections. 3. Loopholes and Unreasonable Exemptions Permit Government Abuse At the time ECPA was created, storing data long-term would have been technologically impossible or prohibitively expensive, so it went unaddressed. Under modern technology, ECPA rules weaken protection on emails and documents. For example, if the document is stored on a desktop computer, it is fully protected by the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment. However, ECPA permits the same document to be searched without a warrant if it is stored with a service provider -on the cloud or if it’s an email stored longer than 180 days Under the law, a single email or document is subject to separate legal standards as its written, sent and opened. Current loopholes in our privacy laws must be closed for a short list of reasonable exceptions to ensure that electronic information receives full warrant protection regardless of their age or nature. 4. Weak Digital Privacy Enforcement Under current ECPA provisions, digital privacy and non-digital goods don’t share the same level of protection. ECPA protections should be modernized to comply with the Fourth Amendment’s protections against “unreasonable searches and seizures.” ECPA should apply the same strict standards of personal privacy for electronic and non-electronic information. If evidence is illegally obtained by breaking into someone house, it cannot legally be used in court. The same should apply if an agency of government doesn’t specifically get a warrant for digital evidence. Rep. DelBene. (D-WA) summed it up, “When current law affords more protections for a letter in a filing cabinet than an ema
