Tweet at the White House and help spread the word.

Come on, White House:
Respond To The Petition To End Warrantless Seizures

Last December, over 100,000 Americans signed an official petition telling the White House to fix an outdated law that says government agencies can access your email without a warrant. The petition still hasn’t received a response.

Hundreds of Republicans and Democrats in Congress support reform of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the law saying that warrantless snooping is just fine. The question is: With so much support, why hasn’t the White House responded?

Days the White House Hasn't Responded

On December 12th, a petition for ECPA reform on the White House website passed the 100,000-signatures threshold, which is supposed to trigger a response. Each day the White House fails to respond is one more day it is missing an important opportunity to publicly back the privacy rights of hundreds of millions of Americans.

SEC Building
IRS Building

So what's the hold up?

A single government agency—the Securities and Exchange Commission—has stalled ECPA reform because it wants a special exception to expand its power and get new warrantless snooping authority. To make matters worse, if the SEC were to get this special exception, other regulatory agencies like the IRS would get it as well.

The government says it needs a warrant to see your:

Files

Stuff you keep in a drawer:Requires a warrant.

Postal Mail

Letters you receive in the mail:Requires a warrant.

Email

Content you store online:No warrant needed. What?!

Hold the White House to its word. Demand a response.

The White House needs to know that its silence on the petition does not inspire confidence, especially during this time of heightened concern for privacy. Let the White House and President Obama know that we’re watching. To learn more about ECPA, visit the Digital 4th website.

Fortunately, Members of Congress are forging ahead to end warrantless snooping. The Email Privacy Act has over 200 bipartisan cosponsors - we need 218 to get a majority of the House. Click here to tell your Representative to support the Email Privacy Act.