Rockland DA's Tech Expert Weighs in with U.S. Senate on Electronic Communications

A technology expert in the Rockland County District Attorney's Office was among law enforcement representatives who testified before a U.S. Senate panel looking at updates to a 1986 federal law that regulates investigations of electronic communications in the United States.

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe said he believes it is imperative that Congress set clear legal standards suited for an ever-changing digital world, allowing prosecutors to build solid cases against serious criminals.

Zugibe said that Josh Landers, director of the Investigative Technology Support Center in his office, assisted in sharing law enforcement concerns before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, which is examining proposed updates to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

The act outlines the Fourth Amendment protections of stored communications from unreasonable search and seizure. It was passed in 1986 and last updated since 2001.

“By offering the Senators our expertise from a law enforcement perspective, I feel confident that the needs of law enforcement to seek justice and ensure public safety will be thoughtfully considered in any changes to our privacy laws that Congress may enact,” Landers said.

Landers was among a small group offering information during the March 19th subcommittee hearing. Others providing expertise were legal scholars, the chief counsel of Google, Department of Justice officials and other representatives of leading state and local law enforcement agencies from across the nation.

Congress is considering several updates to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act in response to new and developing technologies. Zugibe said that privacy laws written just a decade ago may no longer be suited for the latest electronic surveillance and other recent advances in the digital world.

He said outdated aspects of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act have the potential to erode public safety by hampering law enforcement and jeopardizing protections for privacy.

“Along with our partners at the state and federal levels, we have assembled the latest in technology and gained real-world experience on how to use it legally, maintaining protections for privacy," Zugibe said. "I am humbled that Josh’s expertise in electronic surveillance at the operational level will help revise ECPA to protect digital privacy rights in 2013 and beyond. It is imperative that our elected officials set clear, legal standards suited for an ever-changing digital world, allowing our prosecutors to build solid cases against serious criminals.”

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act of 2013, currently under consideration seeks to:

- Establish a search warrant requirement in order for the government to obtain the content of Americans' emails and other electronic communications, when those communications are stored with a third-party service provider.

- Eliminate the '180-day' rule that calls for different legal standards for the government to obtain email content depending upon the age of an email.

- Require that the government notify an individual whose electronic communications have been disclosed within 10 days of obtaining a search warrant.