Car Phone-Computer Privacy Bill Passed
Congress gave its final approval Thursday to legislation to protect the privacy of communications via high-technology devices such as cellular telephones and so-called “electronic mail” sent by computer.
The House approved on a voice vote provisions of a Senate bill passed 24 hours earlier. It updates privacy laws that, until now, had been applied only to conventional mail and telephone calls. President Reagan is expected to sign the measure.
Proponents said that the legislation is needed to extend constitutional guarantees against unreasonable search and seizure to millions of Americans who use computers to transmit information and converse over cellular telephones, used in automobiles. (Cordless telephones are not covered by the legislation because their signals are too easily overheard.)
Backed by Rights Groups
The bill was strongly endorsed by the Justice Department and a broad coalition of business and civil rights groups, including the National Assn. of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Bar Assn.
Rep. Robert W. Kastenmeier (D-Wis.), chief sponsor of the House bill, said that “in the almost 20 years since Congress last addressed the issue of privacy of communications in a comprehensive fashion, the technologies of communication and interception have changed dramatically.”
He said that the landmark wiretapping law of 1968, which bans interception of telephone calls except by court order, has been outdated. The same technology that brought about instant computer transmissions also has produced modern methods of intercepting such communications “by private parties or by the government,” he told his colleagues.
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), a co-sponsor of the Senate bill, said that it is “good for American business people, who need to know their proprietary and other business communications are secure.”
Snooping Made Easy
Advocates said that electronic mail--from one computer to another--is actually more vulnerable than the ordinary telephone system, because copies are often kept as a backup in case of computer failure.
Cellular telephones, used primarily in cars and operated by radio signal, also are more vulnerable than ordinary phones that rely on wires. Conversations over them can be picked up with a scanning device that costs about $600.
The legislation provides civil and criminal penalties for the willful interception of such communications by individuals and requires federal law enforcement officials to obtain court permission to monitor cellular phone conversations or learn the content of computer transmissions.
“We believe this legislation will significantly enhance the privacy rights of citizens in an age of modern technology,” said Jerry Berman, legislative director of the ACLU, who helped organize support for the measure.
The House had overwhelmingly passed a similar bill in July but approved the new version to conform with penalty modifications in the Senate measure.
