An article posted on CNET Tuesday morning said that Leahy had modified his proposal, scheduled for markup on Nov. 29, to give government agencies even more power to monitor consumers’ electronic data than they currently have under the law. The story, picked up by the Drudge Report, quickly stirred rage among Internet activists and prompted a frenzy on Twitter.
“The story is not true, and we’re pushing back very hard on it,” a Leahy spokeswoman told CQ Roll Call on Tuesday afternoon. “Senator Leahy does not support warrantless searches for email content."
Leahy’s proposal is aimed at updating a 1986 electronic privacy law (PL 99-508) to require that federal officials obtain a search warrant before accessing data stored in emails and cloud computing programs. The spokeswoman verified that lawmakers are working behind the scenes to address concerns raised by Judiciary ranking member Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, and by law enforcement agencies that the bill would make criminal investigations more difficult.
“It’s a tough balance with these kinds of things. Law enforcement has concerns they want to raise and citizens have their own concerns,” she said. “There are a lot of conversations going on with lots of constituents.”
Leahy pushed his measure at a committee markup that began in September, and the markup is scheduled to resume next week. He introduced his proposal as an amendment to a separate pending bill (HR 2471) involving the privacy of video rental records. Email privacy has become a hot topic since an FBI investigation unearthed emails revealing an affair between CIA Director David Petraeus and his biographer, which prompted Petraeus to resign.