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ARL Views

ARL Celebrates House Passage of Email Privacy Act; Urges Senate to Pass Quickly

Last Updated on May 19, 2020, 9:58 am ET

*Cross-posted from ARL News*

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) applauds today’s 419-0 vote in the US House of Representatives passing the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699), a bill that updates the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Passed in 1986, ECPA has not kept pace with evolving technologies and has led to an absurdity that affords greater protection to hard-copy documents than digital communications.

House passage of the Email Privacy Act today signals an important recognition that Fourth Amendment protections extend to online communications. As libraries and universities move services into the cloud and more communications take place online, ensuring the protection of information long considered to be private—including what individuals are reading or researching—is essential.

“Reform of ECPA is long overdue and today’s vote in the US House of Representatives demonstrates overwhelming support for bringing privacy laws in line with the digital age,” said ARL president Larry Alford. “The Email Privacy Act will restore a reasonable expectation of privacy in online communications, requiring the government to obtain a warrant for content, and is a key step forward in updating a 30-year-old law governing digital privacy. ARL applauds today’s vote and urges the Senate to quickly move forward to pass this bill.”

The Senate version of the bill, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act of 2015 (S. 356), has enjoyed broad, bipartisan support. The Association of Research Libraries strongly encourages the Senate to pass this legislation soon.

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