Verizon Seeks Stored Communications Act Revamp Amid Supreme Court Cases

Verizon General Counsel Craig Silliman urged Congress Wednesday to “modernize” the 1986 Stored Communications Act amid two Supreme Court cases and other “important questions and policy matters about applying the outdated law to new technologies.” The court is considering Stored Communications Act implications in the U.S. v. Carpenter Fourth Amendment cellsite location case (see 1711290043) and U.S. v. Microsoft, the “Microsoft Ireland” case challenging a U.S. government warrant demanding emails stored in a server based in Ireland (see 1801190047). “Congress needs to address” outdated provisions in the law, Silliman blogged. “When the Stored Communications Act was written 32 years ago we did not entrust so many and varied types of sensitive data with scores of technology companies. And we did not contemplate that those companies would have reason to store so much of that data half-way around the world.” He highlighted the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Modernization Act (S-1657) and the International Communications Privacy Act (S-1671) as vehicles for revamping the statute. “Neither bill is perfect; with so many important interests at stake, perfection is likely impossible,” Silliman said.