Agencies Say They Need Access to Americans’ E-mails Without a Warrant

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A bipartisan bid to reform an electronic-privacy law has the support of the tech community and the White House, but federal law enforcement officials tell Congress the changes would hamper civil prosecution. Civil law enforcement agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission would not be able to obtain critical information if the law were changed to require criminal warrants for access to data stored on cloud services, according to witnesses from those agencies testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The law enforcement officials were reacting to bills from Sens Mike Lee (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Reps Kevin Yoder (R-KS) and Jared Polis (D-CO), that aim to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA).


Agencies Say They Need Access to Americans’ E-mails Without a Warrant