Tomorrow, October 21st, is the Electronic Communications Privacy Act’s 25th anniversary. While some may be celebrating by “partying like it’s 1986,” Senator Patrick Leahy marked the occasion by promising a markup of his bill, S. 1101, “The ECPA Amendments Act” before the end of the year. Leahy’s ECPA update was introduced in May 2011 and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. While several ECPA hearings have been held discussing the need for updates and reform, the Committee has not yet taken any action specifically with regard to Leahy’s bill.
Senators Wyden and Kirk also recognized the milestone by participating in a press conference and promoting the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act, which is legislation which was introduced by Senator Wyden and Senator Chaffetz. Senator Kirk has now been added as a co-sponsor. The “GPS” Act, S. 1212, has also been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary and awaits committee action.
The events commemorating ECPA’s anniversary may provide some momentum for these bills which otherwise are at risk of getting lost in the shuffle of other pressing business and the looming election year.
