Political Quotes

“On October 21 we will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, ECPA, one of the Nation's premiere privacy laws for the digital age. Since the ECPA was first enacted in 1986, this law has provided privacy protections for e-mail and other electronic communications for millions of Americans who communicate and transact business in cyberspace. Today, the many rapid advances in technology that we have witnessed make this key privacy law more important than ever if we are to ensure the right to privacy. Just in the past few months, we have witnessed significant data breaches involving Sony and Epsilon that impact the privacy of millions of American consumers. We are also learning that smartphones and other new mobile technologies may be using and storing our location and other sensitive information, posing new risks to privacy. When I led the effort to write the ECPA 25 years ago, no one could have contemplated these and other emerging threats to our digital privacy. But today, this law is significantly outdated and outpaced by rapid changes in technology and the changing mission of our law enforcement agencies after September 11. At a time in our history when American consumers and businesses face threats to privacy like no time before, we must renew the commitment to the privacy principles that gave birth to the ECPA a quarter century ago. That is why I am working to update this law to reflect the realities of our time.…”