Is the federal government reading your email?

capitol solutions

Is the federal government reading your email?

By U.S. Rep. David Young

Did you read your email today?

Did a government agency read your email today, too? It may surprise you, but those agencies wouldn’t even need a warrant to read them.

It’s hard to believe the last time Congress updated legislation on privacy protection for email, I was just graduating from high school. The year was 1986, and there were yearbooks, not Facebook. Dionne Warwick and Lionel Richie topped the Billboard charts, your only phone was connected to the wall, and most families didn’t even own a computer.

In 1986, the Electronic Communications and Privacy Act (ECPA) became law to create the roadmap for criminal investigations involving electronic communications, and provided the only protections you have from federal snooping. However, a lot has changed since 1986, and how Americans communicate, conduct their personal affairs, and safeguard their sensitive information barely resembles life back then.

Last year, over 232 million Americans reported sending an email at least once a month. Now, almost two thirds of American adults say they use social networking websites as a way to connect. More and more are turning to mobile devices, and Americans send over one billion text messages every year.

With this type of connectivity, I suspect many Iowans would be shocked to learn under the outdated mandates of the ECPA, the government is permitted to access opened email or email over 180 days old without a warrant. Basically all they have to do is ask your email or wireless provider for the records, with almost no legal oversight. The reason for this is information stored with a third party - like emails on a Gmail or Yahoo account, or text messages - isn’t considered private. This understanding of privacy no longer fits the world we live in. With so many Americans using email and other online communication tools in their personal life and business, this power must be reined in.

I came to Washington to fight for solutions for the Iowans I represent and on Wednesday, I joined the U.S. House of Representatives in doing just that. We passed H.R. 699, the bipartisan Email Privacy Act. This commonsense bill requires probable cause of a crime and a court issued warrant for law enforcement to obtain your communications, respecting the Constitutional rights we hold dear as Americans. It also provides uniform guidelines to strengthen privacy protections for individuals and their emails, text messages, information on the cloud, and more.

Ultimately, it is a long overdue response to changing technology, needed to protect Americans’ personal privacy rights. It is a positive step forward and one I am pleased to support as I continue to fight for a government that is efficient, accountable, effective and transparent, and continue to work for the Iowans I am proud to represent.

David Young is the Congressman serving all the people of Iowa’s Third Congressional District. He is a member of the Committee on Appropriations and Subcommittees on Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.