[Libs-Or] ACTION: Celebrating Constitution Day the advocacy way

[Diedre Conkling]

http://www.districtdispatch.org/2014/09/celebrating-constitution-day-advocacy-way/

Celebrating Constitution Day the advocacy way
Posted on September 17, 2014
<http://www.districtdispatch.org/2014/09/celebrating-constitution-day-advocacy-way/>
by Adam Eisgrau <http://www.districtdispatch.org/author/adameisgrau/>

 *“Dear Congressional Leaders –*

*We write to urge you to bring to the floor S. 607 and H.R. 1852, the
bipartisan Leahy-Lee and Yoder-Polis bills updating the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Updating ECPA would respond to the
deeply held concerns of Americans about their privacy. S. 607 and H.R. 1852
would make it clear that the warrant standard of the U.S. Constitution
applies to private digital information just as it applies to physical
property….”*

… So said ALA today and more than 70 other civil liberties organizations,
major technology companies and trade associations — including the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce — in a strong joint letter to the leaders of the House
and Senate
<http://www.reddit.com/comments/2gknwc/on_constitution_day_there_is_no_better_time_to/>
calling for the soonest possible vote on bills pending in each chamber (S.
607
<https://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/607?q={%22search%22%3A[%22s.+607%22]}>
and H.R. 1852
<https://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/1852?q={%22search%22%3A[%22HR+1852%22]}>)
to update the woefully outdated and inadequate Electronic Communications
Privacy Act.  To reach every Member of Congress and their staffs, the
letter also was published as a full page advertisement in Roll Call, a
principal Capitol Hill newspaper widely read inside the Beltway and well
beyond.

When last discussed in DD
<http://www.districtdispatch.org/?s=ECPA&submit=Go> in mid-June, H.R. 1852
(the Email Privacy Act) had been cosponsored by a majority of all Members
of the House.  Today, 265 members have signed on
<https://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/1852/cosponsors?q={%22search%22%3A[%22hr+1852%22]}>
but the bill still awaits action in Committee.  With literally two work
days remaining before the House and Senate recesses for the November
election, ALA and scores of its coalition partners wanted to remind all
Members that these bills deserve a vote immediately after Congress returns
in November.

Add your voice to that call too as Election 2014 heats up where you live!
Attend a “Town Hall” meeting, call in to a talk radio show featuring a
campaigning Congressperson, or simply call their local office and demand
that Congress protect your emails, photos, texts, tweets and anything else
stored in the “cloud” by voting on and passing S. 607 and H.R. 1852.
Politics doesn’t get any more local and personal than the privacy of your
electronic communications, which authorities don’t now need a warrant to
pore over if they’re more than six months old.

Tell your Congressional Representative and Senators to update ECPA by
passing S. 607 and H.R. 1852 as soon as they get back to Washington.


http://www.districtdispatch.org/2014/09/celebrating-constitution-day-advocacy-way/

-- 
*Diedre Conkling*




*Lincoln County Library DistrictP.O. Box 2027Newport, OR 97365Phone & Fax:
541-265-3066Work email**: **diedre at lincolncolibrarydist.org*
<diedre at lincolncolibrarydist.org>
*Home email: **diedre08 at gmail.com* <diedre08 at gmail.com>

 “If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change
your attitude.”―Maya Angelou
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