Washington, DC — February 4, 2015 —

BSA | The Software Alliance today welcomed bipartisan proposals to modernize the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). The legislation was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in the Senate and in the House by Reps. Kevin Yoder (R-KS) and Jared Polis (D-CO), where it has 219 co-sponsors.

“ECPA is an outdated law, conceived before the cloud and the commercial Internet were essential to the lives of millions. This legislation would make it clear that the Constitution protects the privacy of your inbox in the same way as a letter in your mailbox,” said BSA President and CEO Victoria Espinel. “We are pleased that a bipartisan group in the Senate and a majority of the House believe warrants should be required to gain access to private communications from service providers.  We look forward to working with Congressional leaders to move this legislation forward.”