Polis Statement on Confirmed Markup Date for Email Privacy Act in Judiciary Committee

Statement

Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) released the following statement today following the House Judiciary Committee's announcement that the committee will markup the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699) on April 13th. The legislation has now reached over 300 co-sponsors, making it one of the most supported bills in the House of Representatives that has not received a floor vote. The popular online privacy bill is sponsored by Polis and Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KY).

"Although technology has progressed from the floppy disk to the cloud, email privacy laws remain trapped in a decade where dial-up internet was the standard." said Polis. "As a result of Congress's failure to keep pace with technological developments, every American is at risk of having their emails warrantlessly searched by government agencies."

"The Email Privacy Act will bring archaic laws into the 21st century, and protect Americans' Fourth Amendment rights, whether they're communicating through mail or email. I look forward to the Judiciary Committee markup on April 13th, and hope that they will not weaken this piece of critical legislation. I remain confident that without major revisions, when this bill moves to the House floor, it will pass with overwhelming support from both parties."

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