Tech Titans Want US Gov To Alter Privacy Laws

Several US technology companies and privacy groups have come forward in asking the US government to update the country's privacy laws, as the government has a free access pass to a lot of private online data.

The Digital Due Process initiative, which has been formed by Google, eBay and other technology giants, seeks to update the 'medieval' privacy act of 1986, which was apparently passed even before the internet boom.

According to an article on BBC, the Digital Due Process is rallying for the amendment in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986 which determines the level of access the government has to private online data.

Commenting on the company's new initiative, Google's senior counsel for law enforcement and information security, told the BBC that “It is not surprising that a law written in 1986 didn't foresee the privacy protections we need some 25 years later.” 

The initiative, which currently consists of 30 global technology companies and privacy groups, describes the ECPA act of 1986 as a 'patchwork' of highly obtrusive and confusing laws that may have been misinterpreted by the courts of law from time to time.