Ted Poe: “Thank you. I appreciate it. NSA. Let's move on to what is called ECPA. We will talk about the IRS a little bit. This…”

“Thank you. I appreciate it. NSA. Let's move on to what is called ECPA. We will talk about the IRS a little bit. This spring, most Americans are going to be filing taxes, their tax returns, and many Americans, including me, are concerned about the IRS' ability to take information from Americans without their consent or without a warrant. Sometimes that includes emails. So let's talk specifically about the concept of government seizure of emails without consent of the person who sent it or received it and without a warrant. Current Federal law is that, if somebody has an email within 6 months of when that email was sent, that email, to be obtained by government-- not just law enforcement, but any government agency--they have to get a warrant to seize that. But as soon as that 160 days runs, past 160 days, the government doesn't get a warrant because the law doesn't require it. I think in the spirit of the Fourth Amendment, the Fourth Amendment should require that. Email, what is email? That is an electronic message sent to another person. Let's go back to regular mail or snail mail, which some people call it. If I write a letter and I seal the envelope and I put the postage on there and I send it, go put it in the mailbox, one of those blue mailboxes, and I drop that in the mailbox, the government does not have the authority to go in that mailbox and take the letter out, read the letter, seize the letter without a warrant.…”