Sen Leahy keeps tough protections in email privacy bill

Privacy advocates are pleased with the latest version of Sen Patrick Leahy's (D-VT) bill to require police to obtain a warrant before reading e-mails, Facebook messages and other forms of electronic communication.

Sen Leahy released the latest version of his bill on Nov 26. The Senate Judiciary Committee, which Sen Leahy chairs, is scheduled to vote on the legislation on Nov 29. There had been speculation that Sen Leahy would water down the privacy protections after CNET, a technology news site, reported last week that a draft bill circulating on Capitol Hill included broad exceptions for civil investigations. The latest version does not include those exceptions, and Sen Leahy denied that he ever supported them.