The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports that both Apple and Dropbox have now joined the Digital Due Process (DPP) coalition in order to challenge Congress to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act in favor in increased consumer privacy.
The ECPA was passed in 1986, in the days before the internet and data-enabled smartphones were commonplace, yet the 25-year-old act is still the primary law governing how and under what conditions law enforcement can access personal information and private communications stored by communications companies such as Google, Facebook, cell phone providers and ISPs.
The coalition supports amending the act to prevent law enforcement and government officials from tracking your cell phone or obtaining private information such as emails, photographs, documents, social media records, and backup files without first getting a court-approved search warrant.
The EFF claims that the current version of the ECPA is very vague on whether these documents and information (including the tracking of your cell phone) are actually protected from unreasonable government intrusion without a warrant. The coalition has many notable members besides Apple and Dropbox, including Amazon, Google, Intel, AT&T and a host of others.
You can learn more about the issues surrounding Digital Due Process at digitaldueprocess.org.