House Vote Scheduled on Electronic Privacy Act

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has scheduled a floor vote Wednesday, April 27 on the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699).

The House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the Email Privacy Act (EPA) earlier this month, which would update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to, among other things, require the government to get a warrant to access e-mails, social media posts and other online content stored by internet service providers and other e-mail service providers--like Google.

And in a nod to the permanence of cloud storage, eliminates the 180-day sunset on stored communications. Previously a warrant was not required for communications stored beyond 180 days.

Related: Google to FCC—Privacy Pledge Unnecessary

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.