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Hello again
everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend and a great week so far. Today I
want to discuss a subject that is of particular importance to me, and I’m sure it
will be to many of you as well.
Part of my
job is to keep you all informed of what is happening in the IT industry, and to
give you fair warning of changes that could affect you. I recently caught wind
of a proposed update to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) from
the Senate. There have been many proposals circulating lately, but this one in
particular touches on a subject many people will be affected by. If this is
approved, every SMS (text) message you send will be stored in a digital archive
by your phone provider (Sprint, ATT, Verizon, T-Mobile).This means that the
text message you sent to your mom saying where you are going to dinner is now
property of the Federal government.
Until recently, text messages were covered under the Fourth Amendment which
protects citizen’s rights and information. Unreasonable search and seizure of
any user information, including SMS messages, are currently protected unless
law enforcement issues a court-approved warrant.
If this
proposal passes the Senate and then the President signs it into law, however,
your private messages could not be so private anymore. Your texts will become
property of the Federal government and will be archived for 2 years. While CTSI
can’t give an opinion about this legislature, or necessarily an idea if this
will pass, what we can tell you is what you can expect and how to prepare. Now,
while for some texting is just something you only do every now and then to send
a quick message, for others it’s as much a part of you as breathing. Since
texting has evolved it has become more popular, and over 2.3 trillion text
messages are sent in America each year. That means that the over 321.7 million
wireless subscribers in America are subject to having their SMS messages read
by government officials.
Law
enforcement officials cite this proposal as necessary to help them solve
criminal cases more efficiently, stating that without the use of a warrant they
will be able to look through suspect’s text messages to find information
faster. Time is especially critical in cases of homicide, kidnapping, or a
missing person, but at what cost do we give up privacy for security? There are
counter arguments stating that this infringes on individual users rights and
even the Office of the Inspector General has raised concerns of keeping user
SMS messages on file without judiciary approval.
There are
many arguments that can be made, but the one that is irrefutable is that should
this proposal be approved, text messaging will have to change. Privacy will
feel less secure, and many users will most likely restrict the amount of
messages they send and their content. While this may not be all negative, users
may resent the fact that their main mode of communication has to be censored.
We will keep
you updated as this proposal moves closer to a decision in the Senate. What do
you all think? Is this an invasion of privacy, or is this a necessary motion
needed to help catch criminals? Let us know in the comments below!
Until next
time,
Julie
Heinrich
Sources:
This is definitely an invasion of privacy
ReplyDeleteIf they have a warrant ok but other than that noway.. and I kinda think they already do because you know when u get an app or game from the play store some want permission to send texts and go thru your contacts