Senate panel votes to require warrant for police e-mail searches

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted overwhelmingly to require police to obtain a warrant before reading people's e-mails, Facebook messages and other forms of electronic communication.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the author of the bill and chairman of the committee, said he does not expect the full Senate to vote on the measure, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), until next year. He called the committee vote an important step forward and said he plans to negotiate with the House to guide the bill to passage during the next Congress. All of the committee members voted for the legislation except for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), who was not present but recorded a "no" vote. The committee attached the e-mail privacy legislation to H.R. 2471, a House bill that loosens video privacy requirements. That bill, which cleared the House last year, would allow users of Facebook and other social media sites to opt in to automatically share which online videos they have watched.