Apple joins coalition lobbying for electronic privacy rights

Apple has joined the Digital Due Process coalition, which is focused on pressing Congress to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA).

ECPA was passed by Congress in 1986, before the World Wide Web was even invented and when cell phones were still a rarity. Yet to this day, ECPA is the primary law governing how and when law enforcement can access personal information and private communications stored by communications providers like Google, Facebook, your cell phone company or your ISP.

The aim of the Digital Due Process group is to "simplify, clarify, and unify the ECPA  standards, providing stronger privacy protections for communications and associated data in response to changes in technology and new services and usage patterns, while preserving the legal tools necessary for government agencies to enforce the laws, respond to emergency circumstances and protect the public." Digital Due Process highlights email, mobile location, cloud computing and social networking as new technologies that need to be included in the law. Other coalition members include Amazon, Intel, AT&T, Google and many more.