Email privacy bill unanimously passes U.S. House

The article is somewhat confusingly worded. Under the ECPA (passed in 1986), a warrant is required to access email less than 180 days old. Back in the days of POP email, when the user checked his email, it would be downloaded and deleted from the server. So the reasoning was that an email still on the server more than 180 days had been "abandoned" there by the user. What this bill does is apply the warrant requirement to emails older than 180 days as well. So the net effect is that accessing any email will now require a warrant.

So this passed unanimously in the House, and is supported by more than 25% of Senators.<p>But it might not pass the senate because Grassley doesn&#x27;t want to discuss it &quot;during an election year&quot;? WTF?!? Where&#x27;s the controversy? This sounds more like an opportunity for a big bi-partisan win that everyone in both parties could brag about.

As a Boulder, CO resident I&#x27;m extremely proud that our representative co-authored this bill. Polis is one of the few representatives that seem to always be on the side of privacy. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;polis.house.gov&#x2F;news&#x2F;documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398099" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;polis.house.gov&#x2F;news&#x2F;documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3...</a>

My knowledge of US criminal law is limited to what I&#x27;ve grokked from watching crime tv shows, so I&#x27;m not clear on the definitions of some terms.<p>Does a search warrant imply that the person being searched will be notified? I know that a court has to approve the request, but wanted to confirm if it means that the person under suspicion is informed. The way the article contrasts this new law to the current ECPA seems to suggest this is the case.<p>Additionally, the article mentions requests made to service providers. What if I host my own server? Is it just a case of the law agency making the request to my hosting company, or are they required to contact me to get the information?

Business doesn&#x27;t care about privacy, until business realizes that the mechanisms used to hunt for terrorists are also used by the IRS.<p>It will be interesting times for &quot;the cloud&quot; when business realizes that investigations and subpoenas are transparently happening in the background, without the heads-up of marshalls at the doorstep.

About fucking time (pardon my language)

What&#x27;s the process in the US to undo&#x2F;invalidate a law? Is it the same as in other countries, where you&#x27;d go through the supreme court? I stated this in another post yesterday, but I firmly think laws may only be passed after a long &gt;=5 years process and those pushing for the same law repeatedly in disguise need to be penalized or precluded from doing so. We see so many things get blocked due to popular outcry, to just be hidden inside trojan package and passed as a side note.

The Senate version of the bill is S.283<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.congress.gov&#x2F;bill&#x2F;114th-congress&#x2F;house-bill&#x2F;283" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.congress.gov&#x2F;bill&#x2F;114th-congress&#x2F;house-bill&#x2F;283</a><p>If you live in the United States and want to voice your opinion with your senator, <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.digital4th.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.digital4th.org&#x2F;</a> has a tool that provides a template along with contact links to the senators for your state.

This is only for Americans right? And what if I run my own email server? Can I be forced to hand over my own emails after 180 days? Are they allowed to hack the server in my basement?

On a downer note, this is so overdue that I&#x27;m wondering why now instead of ten years ago.

So emails less than 180 days old are not protected?

do they not need a warrant for emails not 180 days old?<p>Edit: Do they need a warrant for emails less than 180 days old?

Why is this bill important?