Big companies such as Microsoft and AT&T and advocacy groups from different parts of the political spectrum have joined to form a coalition intent on strengthening online privacy.

The newly formed Digital Due Process coalition, whose members include the left-leaning Electronic Frontier Foundation and American Civil Liberties Union as well as the libertarian Progress and Freedom Foundation and Competitive Enterprise Institute, will press Congress to reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986.

"ECPA is a patchwork of confusing standards that have been interpreted inconsistently by the courts, creating uncertainty for both service providers and law enforcement agencies," the coalition states.

For example, law enforcement must obtain a warrant to search a document stored on a local hard drive, but not necessarily to gain access to that same document if it's stored on a service provider's network server. A warrant should be necessary in all cases, the coalition says.

Private communications "should receive the same level of protection regardless of the technology, platform or business model used to create, communicate or store it," and whether or not it's in storage or in transit, the coalition states.

Coalition efforts have already garnered support in Congress. House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), said in a statement that he will lead ECPA reform efforts. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the subcommittee on the constitution, civil rights and civil liberties, and Robert Scott (D-Va.), chairman of the subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security also pledged their support.

In the Senate, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said he will hold hearings, and applauded formation of the coalition.

For more:
- check out this press release announcing formation of the Digital Due Process coalition
- see this joint statement on the need for Electronic Communications Privacy Act reform by Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Robert Scott (D-Va.)
- see this statement by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
- read the Electronic Communications Privacy Act
- read this New York Times story on the coalition

Related Articles:
FTC investigates cloud privacy
Microsoft: We need a cloud security law