Karen S. Evans is national director of the U.S. Cyber Challenge, a nationwide talent search and skills development program focused specifically on the cyber workforce. She served as administrator for e-government and IT at the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush
Julie M. Anderson is a principal at AG Strategy Group. She previously served as the acting assistant secretary and deputy assistant secretary of policy and planning at the Department of Veterans Affairs under President Barack Obama.
In Washington, legislation with support from both sides of the aisle is hard to come by – particularly when it comes to technology, as we’ve seen with the net neutrality debate. But technology also brings people together, Republicans and Democrats alike.
From the perspective of two appointees who have served in different presidential administrations, we don’t see eye-to-eye on every issue. But we do share common ground in our support of the Law Enforcement Access to Stored Data Abroad (LEADS) Act. Our bipartisan support is a testament to its importance. The LEADS Act is a reasonable and bipartisan approach to reforming outdated laws; enacting the legislation will preserve the balance between privacy and security while updating the rules that govern digital trade. We’d like to highlight why this legislation is vital to law enforcement activities and individual privacy.
Introduced last month in the Senate and House, the LEADS Act is a strong step toward reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Established in 1986, ECPA applied telephone wiretapping restrictions to computer communications. The tech landscape has changed dramatically over the course of the last 30 years, but ECPA has not. Emails are now stored in data centers across the globe, and cloud computing means that laptops are more often than not in an entirely different location from the servers they access.
We all count on a certain level of privacy when it comes to personal communications. We rely on established rules and processes to preserve this trust, which law enforcement must follow. For example, a local police department is required to obtain a search warrant before accessing an individual’s personal email account. The same principles apply to international communications. Long-standing treaties, known as Mutual Legal Assistant Treaties (MLATs), have governed law enforcement agencies’ ability to access personal information across borders.
Legal reform lags behind our technological environment and capabilities, creating confusion among multiple players. The U.S., for example, has served warrants to American technology companies to access customer data stored in other countries making many wonder why long-standing privacy rights don’t seem to equally apply to digital privacy. In addition, some are concerned that non-U.S. allies will be able to access emails of U.S. citizens without following established protocols.
The LEADS Act will bring greater clarity to these circumstances. Specifically, the bill permits law enforcement access to data when security is paramount and protects the privacy of consumers. This balance is critical as the pace of innovation accelerates and digital trade takes an increasingly more important role on the world stage. At the same time, U.S. citizens continue to expect that their personal communications are protected through an established process.
The LEADS Act relies on existing international treaties to regulate the request and access to emails across borders. The procedures employed by these treaties are not perfect, and that is where LEADS is beneficial in setting forth significant process improvements, specifying that U.S. warrants apply to data stored abroad tied to U.S. citizens or residents only when execution of the warrants does not violate foreign laws.
Only when the U.S. reasserts its leadership on these issues will it be able to fully benefit from its international relationships. Any U.S. government action absent of overall ECPA reform could hamper future cooperation from law enforcement agencies in foreign countries. Numerous groups – including technology companies, leading media, and privacy organizations – have aligned their efforts to support clarifying legal access to personal communications. Members of both parties have signed on to the bill introduced in both chambers of Congress.
The LEADS Act is an important first step in clarifying and strengthening ECPA. It will enhance the mutual trust and reciprocity that U.S. has built over time with our foreign partners. And this, in turn, will help our country continue to benefit from international relationships aimed at improving law enforcement cooperation. In a time of gridlock and increasing partisanship, LEADS is one place where Washington could work to improve security and privacy for its people.
