Electronic Communications Privacy Act

[Ladywriter 7,783]

Dear ACLU Supporter,

Few people realize that the law designed to protect the privacy of our

electronic communications hasn't been updated since 1986.

Think about it. In 1986, mobile phones were bigger than your head and

the Internet as we know it didn't even exist.

The longer our privacy law remains out of date, the more your privacy

is at risk.

We need you to change that. Tomorrow, Congress turns its attention to

updating this law as the House of Representatives holds hearings on

how cell phone records reveal and track our location. Now's the time

to let Congress know Americans want them to update the Electronic

Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and protect our privacy.

Tell Congress you want our electronic privacy law updated.

http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=b4qzkgd9t9jwCu2jmngYDA..

Many activities that have become commonplace since 1986 -- writing

email, searching online, using your cell phone -- don't have

adequate privacy protections, leaving your personal information

vulnerable to abuse by the government.

The threat is real. Sprint, for example, received 8 million demands

for mobile location data about countless people in just a little over

a year. In the absence of a good electronic privacy law, government

agencies -- from the NSA to local police departments -- are

essentially going on surveillance shopping sprees for our data. And

what's even more shocking is that in many cases government agencies

claim they don't even need a warrant to access your personal

information.

But cell phone tracking is just the tip of the iceberg. Threats to

your privacy are very real as private companies are building vast

databases about who you are, where you go, and what you do. They're

looking at everything from web chats, to GPS devices, to eReaders and

video sites and using this outdated privacy law to easily access your

private information. You can change that.

Tell Congress to protect our privacy by updating ECPA today.

http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=Tfh9yXYPoKRV63fpFhe5oQ..

Thanks for taking action,

Anthony D. Romero

Executive Director

ACLU

P.S. The ACLU is pulling out all the stops to ensure ECPA is updated.

You'll be hearing more from us on how to help protect your privacy in

the coming weeks. But today, we need you to tell Congress to update

our electronic privacy law.

http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=pYX6wFOTq-UKSSgrwUF4RA..