Inactivity in Congress is not entirely new or surprising, except when there is broad bipartisan, bicameral support for legislation that also enjoy strong support from both civil society and industry.

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the federal law that regulates government access to private communications records stored by third parties.

SIIA thanks Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Representatives Kevin Yoder (R-KS) and Jared Polis (D-CO) for introducing the Electronic Communications Privacy Amendments Act of 2015 Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation to update the antiquated Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and protect Americans’ online privacy in today’s networked world.

A new Congress and a reinvigorated Administration mean legislation of interest to SIIA’s members is likely to pass in 2015.  We intend to be pro-active and vigilant to ensure that this legislation responds to the broad public interest, including preserving and advancing the business interests and opportunities of SIIA’s member companies.

Yesterday, the Email Privacy Act (H.R.1852) reached a major milestone:  formal support from a bipartisan majority of House member—that’s 218 of the 435 members of the House, including a “majority of the majority” with 136 Republicans and 82 Democrats signing on as sponsors of the legislation.

SIIA today responded to the release of the Administration’s Report on Privacy and Big Data.  SIIA welcomed the report’s assessment that big data provides substantial public benefits and will provide more benefits in the future.  The organization believes the current regulations are adequate to address potential concerns.

The latest transparency report , released by Google today, contains a robust call to Congress to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to include a bright-line warrant-for-content requirement.