“The author of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act introduced Tuesday new legislation to modernize the 1986 law aimed, in part, to protect the privacy of smartphone users and e-mail communications,” GovInfoSecurity reports.
“Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act would enhance privacy protections for the content of Americans’ e-mail and other electronic communications by requiring a search warrant to show probable cause,” GovInfoSecurity reports. “He said the bill includes new privacy protections for Americans’ location information that is collected, used or stored by service providers, smartphones and other mobile technologies.”
GovInfoSecurity reports, “Digital privacy rights has been a concern of lawmakers in recent weeks. On May 10, a Senate Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing following accounts that Apple and Google kept hidden files on smartphones of consumers’ whereabouts. A similar hearing will be held Thursday by a subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., introduced May 9 a bill to allow consumers to opt out of online tracking.”
Read more in the full article here.
More info and full text of Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act Of 2011 here.
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