Senate’s new overseas-email protection act gets mixed reviews

A bipartisan group of senators are backing the idea that e-mails held by US services providers overseas need greater legal protection than they currently enjoy, but some are praising its existence and pointing out what they see as its significant flaws.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Chris Coons (D-DE) and Dean Heller (R-NV) introduced the Law Enforcement Access to Data Stored Abroad Act, or LEADS Act. The bill centers on the argument that digital content contained within the account of a "US person" but held on a server overseas would be accessible to law enforcement only with a judicial warrant.