WASHINGTON — September 16, 2015 — In testimony today before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Victoria Espinel, President and CEO of BSA | The Software Alliance, urged Committee members to support efforts to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) by adopting legislation that better reflects today’s technological reality. Espinel pressed Congress to address issues emerging now, specifically those related to demands by law enforcement agencies in one country for data held in another country.

“Today, in addition to the inconsistent warrant requirement in ECPA, the law also is unclear on how to govern data requests that cross borders,” Espinel said during her testimony. “The lack of clear rules creates unhelpful confusion and has opened the door to US law enforcement demands that could undermine user trust around the world.”

BSA’s testimony in today’s hearing on “Reforming the Electronic Communications Act” focused on issues related to cross-border demands for data, their impact on user trust around the world, and the need for a framework to address such issues as are spelled out in the Hatch-Coons-Heller LEADS Act.

“BSA | The Software Alliance supports the ECPA Amendments Act because consumers, businesses and governments all will benefit from greater clarity in the law about the appropriate ways for law enforcement to access data,” said Espinel. “The Act makes critical updates that are needed to protect the privacy of Americans’ email content and subscriber records. We thank the Committee members for their attention to ECPA reform, and urge them to act quickly to update this decades-old law.”

Click here to download BSA’s testimony.