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Released: October 17, 2011
Electronic Privacy Act turns 25; no reason to celebrate
Source: John P. Mello Jr., PCWorld
Technology has changed a lot since 1986, when the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) became law. Cell phones no longer look like bricks. Thirteen-pound laptops, such as the IBM PC Convertible with a processor running at 4.77 MHz and 256KB of memory, aren’t considered svelte. We even have something called the World Wide Web, an unknown to cybernauts in that year.
Yet, the ECPA—which sets the rules on how and when law enforcement agencies can access your electronic information—has managed to be remarkably resistant to change since it became law 25 years ago on October 21. That’s created some bizarre anomalies in the law. For example, e-mail that you’ve opened is treated differently from e-mail in transit to you. And all e-mail more than 180 days old is fair game for government snoops.
Read Full Article: Electronic Privacy Act turns 25; no reason to celebrate
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