Email Privacy Act Updating 30-Year-old ECPA Up for Full House Floor Vote Next Week

The Email Privacy Act, which unanimously passed the House last year, will be up for a floor vote next week, according to a House website. Reintroduced by Reps. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., and Jared Polis, D-Colo., more than three weeks ago (see 1701090017), HR-387 updates the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act by closing a loophole that allows law enforcement to access people's emails older than 180 days stored in third-party servers without a warrant. Last year, the measure passed 419-0 in the House. Although the bill attracted significant support in Senate, its backers withdrew the legislation after a controversial amendment was introduced that would have widened FBI access to Americans' sensitive data online (see 1606090007).