What Is the Electronic Communications Privacy Act?

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1986 to extend the original control over wire telephone monitoring (including electronic data transmission through computers). The ECPA amends Title III of the OmnibusCrimeControl and SafeStreetsAct (aka the Wired Intercept Act) of 1968, which is mainly to prevent the government from accessing private electronic communications without permission.

Electronic Communications Privacy Act

Right!

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1986 to extend the original control over wire telephone monitoring (including electronic data transmission through computers). The ECPA amends Title III of the OmnibusCrimeControl and SafeStreetsAct (aka the Wired Intercept Act) of 1968, which is mainly to prevent the government from accessing private electronic communications without permission.

Chinese name

Electronic Communications Privacy Act

Foreign name

Electronic Communications Privacy Act

Development unit

U.S. Congress

Development time

1986

Set purpose

Relevant regulations for extension of telephone wire monitoring

Electronic Communications Privacy Act

Established by the US Congress in 1986 to extend the original control over wire telephone monitoring (including electronic data transmission through computers). The ECPA amended the Title III of the OmnibusCrimeControl and SafeStreetsAct (aka the Wired Intercept Act) of 1968 to prevent the government from accessing and monitoring private electronic communications without permission. After the implementation of some provisions of the USA Patriot Act (USAPATRIOTAct), it also weakened and reduced the content covered by ECPA. In addition, ECPA Article 2709 allows the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to issue letters of national security orders to network service providers ( (ISP) to order them to disclose customer records, which was found to be in violation of the First and Fourth Constitutional Amendments in ACLUv. Ashcroft (2004). This is believed to be applicable to other national security order letters.

The first part of the content ECPA regulates the protection of cable, oral and communication transmission. The conditions on the writ of the search are stricter than other conditions. The second part of ECPA is the Stored Communications Act (Stored Communications Act, SCA), which regulates the protection of electronic storage in communications, especially emphasizing the information stored on computers. However, its protection is weaker than the first part, and it is not Raising the bar for obtaining writs. The third part of ECPA prohibits the surveillance recorder (PenRegister) and / or tracking device (TrapAndTrace) from recording call, routing, positioning, and signal information during the transmission of wired or electronic communications without a search ticket.

Some court cases have raised the question of whether e-mail messages can be more protected in the first clause when stored temporarily to the final endpoint. In the UnitedStates v. Councilman case, the U.S. District Court and three jury judges disagreed with the jury appeal, but in 2005, the US Court of Appeals rejected this opinion against the First Circuit Court. Proponents of privacy can be more relieved at this time, and the "Friends of the Court" (Amicuscuriaebriefs) has argued that if ECPA does not protect emails during temporary storage, all emails are transient at least once when they are transmitted. Storage, this additional protection is meaningless; and it was known to Congress when the law was passed in 1986 (see RFC822). From the perspective of the concept of rights, ECPA protects personal communications. It cannot monitor government communications without a court order, and third parties cannot receive information without legal authorization (such as from ISPs, etc. Carrier). However, employees 'monitoring of communications by employers' devices does not guarantee their privacy.