Email Privacy Act Bill to Protect Email and Cloud Privacy Unanimously Passed by House
In today's fast-moving Internet age, security and the privacy of your data is uncertain territory. There are many opposing entities that attempt to infringe on your private data every day if you access the Internet. Fortunately, in the USA, the government is making strides in an effort to make your privacy a priority by the House unanimously passing the Email Privacy Act bill to protect email and cloud privacy.
The Email Privacy Act, a bill put in play by the House Judiciary committee, is there to prohibit a provider of a remote computing service or electronic communication service to knowingly divulge to a governmental entity contents of any communication that is in electronic storage. While the definition of what the Email Privacy Act provides is clear to most, there are many holes that permit loss policies for the protection of data in the many different facets of how the information over the Internet is made up.
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), had run its course over its 30 years of existence. Even so, many privacy advocates and tech outlets have pushed for Congress to update the ECPA for nearly five years now. Coincidently, the U.S. House of Representatives has now passed a bill that essentially updates the ECPA and adds much-needed email and cloud privacy protection rules in place.
Over the years, the transfer of data has considerably changed. Under the new ECPA policies, police agencies are required to get a police warrant to obtain paper files in a suspect's home or files stored on a computer or in the cloud for less than 180 days. Under the ECPA, they only needed a subpoena to demand files without review by a judge to access files stored in the cloud or with other third-party providers for longer than 180 days.
Cloud computing has become a significant structure in today's Internet landscape. People across the globe are accessing cloud sources to store personal data and access files that they feel should never be infringed. The security surrounding such storage has always been a primary concern since the conception of the idea in the not so distant past. It was only a matter of time before the government acted on the rights for access to files that are stored in the cloud.
The change in privacy protection rights and laws under the passage of the bill is a major victory for those who believe in the right to privacy. Passing the new Email Privacy Act will enact a new time where privacy isn't put on the back burner and citizens in America will feel safe with cloud computing and their personal data stored remotely.