[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 706]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            DATA PRIVACY DAY

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today, I join privacy advocates, industry 
leaders and National, State and local government officials from across 
our Nation in celebrating Data Privacy Day--a day to recognize the need 
to better secure our privacy and security in cyberspace. I am also 
pleased to join Senators on both sides of the aisle in cosponsoring a 
Senate resolution to commemorate Data Privacy Day.
  In the Digital Age, Americans face new threats to their digital 
privacy and security as consumers and businesses alike collect, share 
and store more and more information in cyberspace. Data Privacy Day is 
an important reminder about the need to improve data privacy as we reap 
the many benefits of new technologies.
  Last year the Judiciary Committee approved digital privacy 
legislation that I authored to update the Electronic Communications 
Privacy Act, ECPA, to improve the privacy protections for Americans' 
email and other electronic communications. That bill would, among other 
things, require that the Government obtain a search warrant, based upon 
probable cause, before obtaining email and other electronic 
communications from a third-party service provider. When I and others 
in Congress authored ECPA in 1986, email was a novelty and most 
Americans had never heard of the Internet. Today, communication by 
email is commonplace and many of us store email and other electronic 
communications with service providers or ``in the cloud'' for extended 
periods of time.
  After 3 decades, it is essential that Congress update ECPA to ensure 
that this critical law keeps pace with new technologies and the way 
Americans use and store email today. Digital privacy is important to 
all Americans, regardless of party affiliation or ideology. That is why 
when Congress first enacted ECPA, we did so with strong bipartisan 
support. I appreciate the willingness of House Judiciary Committee 
Chairman Goodlatte to work in partnership with me to examine and update 
this critical privacy law. I look forward to working closely with 
Chairman Goodlatte and others in Congress to update this law so that it 
keeps pace with the many new threats to our privacy.
  I again thank and commend the many stakeholders and leaders from 
across the Nation who are holding events to commemorate Data Privacy 
Day. I look forward to working with them and with Members of Congress 
on both sides of the aisle, in both Chambers, to enact reforms to the 
Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

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