Don’t Let Our Right to Privacy Expire

Internet freedom means different things to different people. But for most of us it boils down to this: the freedom to read, do and say what we want online — and in private.

This Thursday, that freedom could come under attack. The Senate Judiciary Committee wants to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) — a bill passed in 1986, before most of us had even heard of the Internet — to bring it into the 21st century.

A good update to ECPA is in the works. It would ensure that our online activity is given the same privacy protections as snail mail and wired phone calls.

But a bad update is in the works, too. Sen. Chuck Grassley is pushing an amendment that would allow government agencies to snoop — without a warrant — on our email, our texts and any documents we have stored in the “cloud.”

The Judiciary Committee is voting this week on how to move forward with this important bill — either by strengthening privacy protections or getting rid of them. The Free Press Action Fund has joined a coalition of groups at VanishingRights.com to make sure the Senate moves to protect our right to online privacy.

Each day we communicate more and more online — where there’s little protection against government snooping. We can fix this. Take action now to protect our online privacy and stand up for our Internet freedom.