On the recordFebruary 6, 2017
The American people's Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure by our government must always be protected. Unfortunately, our privacy protections from government intrusion have not kept pace with the way we communicate with each other. It is long past time that we update our Nation's electronic communication privacy laws. The last time we updated these laws was 1986. That was 6 years after the U.S. Olympic Hockey team's Miracle on Ice, 2 years after I graduated from college, and 1 year before the Minnesota Twins won their first World Series. Simply put, Mr. Speaker, that was a long time ago. Today, more than 200 million Americans have access to a smartphone, and many more use email and cloud technology. However, many Americans may not realize that these antiquated laws allow law enforcement to read every email that is more than 6 months old, without a warrant. The Email Privacy Act would codify the reasonable expectation of privacy Americans already have in their electronic communications by requiring a search warrant for private digital communications. I was pleased to support this legislation when it passed unanimously in the House last Congress, and I look forward to its swift consideration in both Chambers in the 115th. I urge all of my colleagues to support this long overdue modification of the law.
