Privacy Law: Electronic Communications Privacy Act
I. Electronic Communications Privacy Act
The United States Congress passed the Electronic Communications Privacy
Act (ECPA) in 1986 in order to broaden the government’s reach regarding wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping.1 Specifically, in addition to the wiretapping of telephone calls, this act allows the government to wiretap electronic data transmissions by computer as well. Privacy issues have arisen since its inception; however, since the explosion of technology and the increased use of the World Wide Web, the inadequacies of the ECPA’s privacy standards became a prevalent and recurring issue for the courts to address. 2 This research paper will discuss the birth of the ECPA as well as its structure pre-‐and post 9/11; and will also discuss the struggle to balance citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights of the United States Constitution and protecting the United States’ national security. A. Genesis of the ECPA
Technological advances in society did not begin to take precedence within
the business world until the mid to late-‐1980’s.3 “By 1986, ‘businesses of all sizes— hospitals, banks and many others used remote computing services.’ The Primary means of transmitting data to these
The United States Congress passed the Electronic Communications Privacy
Act (ECPA) in 1986 in order to broaden the government’s reach regarding wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping.1 Specifically, in addition to the wiretapping of telephone calls, this act allows the government to wiretap electronic data transmissions by computer as well. Privacy issues have arisen since its inception; however, since the explosion of technology and the increased use of the World Wide Web, the inadequacies of the ECPA’s privacy standards became a prevalent and recurring issue for the courts to address. 2 This research paper will discuss the birth of the ECPA as well as its structure pre-‐and post 9/11; and will also discuss the struggle to balance citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights of the United States Constitution and protecting the United States’ national security. A. Genesis of the ECPA
Technological advances in society did not begin to take precedence within
the business world until the mid to late-‐1980’s.3 “By 1986, ‘businesses of all sizes— hospitals, banks and many others used remote computing services.’ The Primary means of transmitting data to these