Legal Alert | Wiretap Laws in the United States
On July 13, 2018, over 50 civil liberties groups, technology companies, and associations submitted a joint letter to Congress in support of the Email Privacy Act (EPA), which was recently included in the House-passed version...more
On May 24, 2017, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism held a hearing on issues related to warrants for data stored abroad by U.S. entities and possible reforms of the Electronic Communications...more
On March 10, 2017, Google Inc. filed its objection to a Pennsylvania magistrate judge's order to comply with search warrants and turn over personal user data partially stored on foreign servers abroad. A number of technology...more
By voice vote on February 6, the US House of Representatives passed the Email Privacy Act that would, among other things, require the federal government to obtain a warrant before compelling service providers to hand over...more
On January 9, 2017, lawmakers in the House re-introduced legislation, the Email Privacy Act, which, if enacted, would require the government to obtain a court-issued warrant to access electronic communications, including...more
Even though Microsoft is a U.S. corporation subject to domestic subpoenas and warrants, prosecutors are not entitled to emails stored on its servers abroad, the Second Circuit ruled last week in Microsoft Corp. v. United...more
On July 14, 2016, the Second Circuit released its decision in Microsoft Corp. v. United States, No. 14-2985, slip op. (2d Cir. July 14, 2016). The Second Circuit rejected the Government’s efforts to require Microsoft to turn...more
In a case closely watched by privacy advocates, on July 14, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Stored Communications Act (“SCA”) does not authorize U.S. law enforcement authorities to order U.S.-based companies...more
On June 6, 2016, during a speech at a Cybercrime Symposium co-organized by the Centers for Strategic and International Studies and the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section,...more
On April 29, 2016, in a 419-0 vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to amend the 30-year-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) to eliminate an exception to the government warrant requirement...more
On October 8, 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“CalECPA” or the “Act”), sponsored by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). The Act requires law...more
Last Thursday, Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (CalECPA) into law, which requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant before accessing or searching individuals’ digital...more
On Thursday, October 8, 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (the “California ECPA”). This legislation, which takes effect on January 1, 2015, has been heralded by...more
Law enforcement requests for electronic information, particularly from technology companies such as Google and Twitter, have skyrocketed in recent years. In response, several states—Maine and Texas in 2013, Utah in 2014 and...more
The Second Circuit’s challenge in considering the validity of a U.S. Stored Communications Act warrant to Microsoft for e-mails located on servers in Ireland involves interpreting the SCA, which was enacted nearly three...more
Jacqui Merrill, an Associate at The Volkov Law Group, joins us with a posting on the SEC’s request for increased access to emails. In a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting held on September 16, 2015, Securities and...more
Amending the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) has long been under consideration in Congress, but recent testimony indicates that ECPA reform may have deeper implications for companies subject to FTC...more
A perspective on the recent Fourth Amendment and privacy considerations raised by Judge James C. Francis' recent Memorandum and Order: 'In The Matter Of A Warrant To Search A Certain E-Mail Account Controlled And Maintained...more