The House Votes Unanimously to Strengthen Email Privacy; New York Times, 4/29/16

Editorial Board, New York Times; The House Votes Unanimously to Strengthen Email Privacy:

"In a rare and remarkable display of bipartisanship, the House voted unanimously this week to strengthen a 30-year-old privacy law that governs how and when law enforcement agencies can obtain access to emails, photographs and other documents that people store online. If enacted, the changes will ensure that the law protects digital information as well as it does physical documents.

The bill will require law enforcement agencies to obtain search warrants from judges to gain access to personal messages and files stored on the servers of companies like Google, Yahoo and Dropbox. The legislation would substantially revise a 1986 law, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, that allows agencies to get emails older than 180 days and other digital files by issuing subpoenas to technology companies without going to a judge.

This sensible update reflects how people store information today."