J. Scott Applewhite / AP
In this Jan. 25, 2017, photo, the Capitol in Washington at sunrise.
Monday, Feb. 6, 2017 | 6 p.m.
WASHINGTON — The House has approved legislation updating privacy protections for emails maintained by third-party service providers such as Google and Yahoo.
The legislation requires the government to obtain a warrant from a court before requiring providers to disclose the content of emails, regardless of how long they have been in storage. Currently, a warrant is not required for communications stored beyond 180 days.
Supporters such as Rep. Tom Graves, R-Iowa, note that the last time email privacy laws were updated, Ronald Reagan was president and the Chicago Bears were Super Bowl champions.
Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., has sponsored the bill, which has widespread support in the House. A similar measure easily passed in the last Congress, but did not get Senate approval.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy