Overnight Tech: Popular email privacy bill moving forward

LEDE: One of the most popular bills in Congress is taking a small step forward on Wednesday after years of delay.

The House Judiciary Committee is slated to approve an amended version of the Email Privacy Act. The bill has 314 co-sponsors and would close off an outdated loophole, so that the government must get a warrant before forcing a technology company to hand over a customer’s emails or other electronic communications, no matter how old they are.

{mosads}Privacy advocates have pushed for the update for years and begrudgingly signed off on small changes to the bill to satisfy Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who has been seen as the major roadblock to House passage up until now. In the past, he has been sympathetic to law enforcement and civil regulators who asked for carve-outs.

Those broad carve-out requests were not accepted, but Goodlatte did remove a provision that would have required the government to quickly inform a customer whose emails were obtained with a warrant. Goodlatte’s office called it potentially dangerous, but privacy advocates complained that sacrificing that provision should have been unnecessary because of the bill’s popularity.

Read here about the details of the substitute bill offered by Goodlatte. 

Here is the bill itself. 

LIFELINE BILL AMONG SEVEN BEING WEIGHED IN HOUSE: The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will consider a bill Wednesday that would cap yearly expenditures under the Lifeline program at $1.5 billion. The legislation comes in response to the FCC’s decision to expand the subsidy program to broadband with a yearly cap of $2.25 billion, which critics say could easily be exceeded. Other bills being considered include several related to public safety. One bill would increase penalties for swatting, or calling 911 to draw a law enforcement response to the home of an unsuspecting victim.

WHITE HOUSE VETO THREAT ON RATE REG BILL: The White House on Tuesday issued a veto threat against a bill hitting the House floor Friday that would block the Federal Communications Commission from regulating the rates of Internet service. Democrats have said the FCC has no interest in regulating the monthly rates that Internet service providers charge for service. But the Office of Management and Budget said the “overly broad” bill would undermine the FCC’s net neutrality rules.

LETTER OPPOSING RATE REG BAN: A group of 50 organizations sent a letter to House leaders urging them to vote against the FCC rate regulation ban ahead of Friday’s vote. The letter said the broadly written bill “would hamstring the FCC’s ability to carry out its congressionally-mandated responsibilities.”

THUNE EYES REAUTH MARKUP: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) said he expects to mark up his Federal Communications Commission reauthorization bill in late April. “It will probably be the week before the break,” he said.

AND KEEPS ROSENWORCEL NOMINATION ON HIS RADAR: He also said that he had discussed with Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) the holds on the nomination of Democratic FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, reportedly placed by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah). “I’ve told Sen. Reid that we’ve got a couple on our side,” he said. “I think he’s talked to Mike Lee but I don’t know that he’s had a conversation yet with Sen. Cruz, so I think that that may be the next thing to happen.”

MERGER SKEPTICS MEET WITH FCC LAWYERS: The Stop Mega Cable Coalition met with a series of FCC lawyers and advisors to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler late last week and early this week to express their concerns with the proposed merger between Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications. “Members explained that if the Commission decides to approve the merger, it must impose workable remedies for all of the harms presented by this transaction, including the threats posed by the anti-competitive methods discussed herein,” the group wrote in a filing.

ON TAP:

At 10:15 a.m., the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing on seven bills.

At 10:30 a.m., the House Judiciary Committee will mark up the Email Privacy Act.

At 12:30 p.m., the Media Institute will hold its annual Communications Forum.

At 2 p.m., Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) will introduce a bill to require phone companies to offer robocall blocking technology to their customers.

At 2:50 p.m., President Obama will give remarks at the White House Science Fair.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg criticized the “fearful voices calling for building walls” during his opening remarks at the company’s developer conference Tuesday in San Francisco, taking a shot at Donald Trump.

Privacy and civil liberties groups on Tuesday begrudgingly announced they were OK with changes to an email privacy bill heading for a House Judiciary Committee vote.

Uber received more than 400 requests for data from law enforcement in the second half of 2015, according to a new report.

One of Capitol Hill’s most prominent cybersecurity voices is supporting a new bill that would earmark billions of dollars to modernize the government’s technology infrastructure.

Supporters of email privacy legislation will not rely solely on stand-alone legislation to get their measure passed by year’s end.

Please send tips and comments to David McCabe, dmccabe@digital-stage.thehill.com and Mario Trujillo, mtrujillo@digital-stage.thehill.com Follow us on Twitter: @HilliconValley, @dmccabe, @_mariotrujillo