On my blog: Obama panel supports warrant requirement for e-mail, cloud content
David Kravets at Ars (bold emphasis is my own):
“The laws that govern protections afforded to our communications were written before e-mail, the Internet, and cloud computing came into wide use. Congress should amend ECPA [the Electronic Communications Privacy Act] to ensure the standard of protection for online, digital content is consistent with that afforded in the physical,” the panel concluded.
But it’s uncertain whether Congress would actually amend ECPA, the privacy law in question that was adopted during the Reagan era.
Here’s why: the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a reform measure last year requiring the authorities to obtain a probable-cause warrant to acquire cloud-based data—the same Fourth Amendment standard necessary to search the same material if it was on a hard drive in your house. However, an anonymous lawmaker or lawmakers has blocked the measure from going before the full Senate for a yes or no vote.
And that’s despite the unheard of support from the Justice Department saying it backs the Senate package to enhance the public’s privacy protections.