ACLU, Amnesty International USA, and HRW Letter Opposing DOJ Proposal on Cross Border Data Sharing

This letter, sent by the ACLU, Amnesty International USA and Human Rights Watch (HRW), urges Congress to oppose a legislation proposed by the Dept. of Justice (DOJ), which would weaken privacy protections in the Electronic Communication Privacy Act (ECPA) and the Wiretap Act. The proposed DOJ legislation would replace the current process for cross-border data requests from foreign governments—a change that would remove existing privacy protections for both Americans and foreigners. The new process created by the DOJ proposal would grant the Executive Branch the ability to enter into agreements with foreign governments to share stored and real-time communications directly from U.S. providers in cases involving undefined “serious” crimes.