Senate panel to take up e-mail privacy bill

The Senate Judiciary Committee will mark-up legislation on April 18 that would require police to obtain a warrant to search e-mails and other private online content.

Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986, police only need a subpoena, issued without a judge's approval, to read emails that have been opened or that are more than 180 days old. Privacy advocates argue the law is woefully out of date and that police should need a judge-approved search warrant, based on probable cause, to view any private online messages. S.607, offered by Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), would amend ECPA to require a search warrant regardless of how old the email is. "Safeguarding Americans’ privacy rights is not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue— it is something that is important to all Americans, regardless of political party or ideology," Leahy said