II 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 699 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 28, 2016 

Received 

AN ACT 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to update the privacy 

protections for electronic communications information 

that is stored by third-party service providers in order 

to protect consumer privacy interests while meeting law 

enforcement needs, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Email Privacy Act’’. 

3 SEC. 2. VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE CORRECTIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2702 of title 18, United 

5 States Code, is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a)— 

7 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

8 (i) by striking ‘‘divulge’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘disclose’’; 

10 (ii) by striking ‘‘while in electronic 

11 storage by that service’’ and inserting 

12 ‘‘that is in electronic storage with or other13 wise stored, held, or maintained by that 

14 service’’; 

15 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

16 (i) by striking ‘‘to the public’’; 

17 (ii) by striking ‘‘divulge’’ and insert18 ing ‘‘disclose’’; and 

19 (iii) by striking ‘‘which is carried or 

20 maintained on that service’’ and inserting 

21 ‘‘that is stored, held, or maintained by that 

22 service’’; and 

23 (C) in paragraph (3)— 

24 (i) by striking ‘‘divulge’’ and inserting 

25 ‘‘disclose’’; and 


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1 (ii) by striking ‘‘a provider of’’ and in2 serting ‘‘a person or entity providing’’; 

3 (2) in subsection (b)— 

4 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

5 by inserting ‘‘wire or electronic’’ before ‘‘com6 munication’’; 

7 (B) by amending paragraph (1) to read as 

8 follows: 

9 ‘‘(1) to an originator, addressee, or intended re10 cipient of such communication, to the subscriber or 

11 customer on whose behalf the provider stores, holds, 

12 or maintains such communication, or to an agent of 

13 such addressee, intended recipient, subscriber, or 

14 customer;’’; and 

15 (C) by amending paragraph (3) to read as 

16 follows: 

17 ‘‘(3) with the lawful consent of the originator, 

18 addressee, or intended recipient of such communica19 tion, or of the subscriber or customer on whose be20 half the provider stores, holds, or maintains such 

21 communication;’’; 

22 (3) in subsection (c) by inserting ‘‘wire or elec23 tronic’’ before ‘‘communications’’; 

24 (4) in each of subsections (b) and (c), by strik25 ing ‘‘divulge’’ and inserting ‘‘disclose’’; and 


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1 (5) in subsection (c), by amending paragraph 

2 (2) to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(2) with the lawful consent of the subscriber 

4 or customer;’’. 

5 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO REQUIRED DISCLOSURE SEC6 TION. 

7 Section 2703 of title 18, United States Code, is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) by striking subsections (a) through (c) and 

10 inserting the following: 

11 ‘‘(a) CONTENTS OF WIRE OR ELECTRONIC COMMU12 NICATIONS IN ELECTRONIC STORAGE.—Except as pro13 vided in subsections (i) and (j), a governmental entity may 

14 require the disclosure by a provider of electronic commu15 nication service of the contents of a wire or electronic com16 munication that is in electronic storage with or otherwise 

17 stored, held, or maintained by that service only if the gov18 ernmental entity obtains a warrant issued using the proce19 dures described in the Federal Rules of Criminal Proce20 dure (or, in the case of a State court, issued using State 

21 warrant procedures) that— 

22 ‘‘(1) is issued by a court of competent jurisdic23 tion; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) may indicate the date by which the pro2 vider must make the disclosure to the governmental 

3 entity. 

4 In the absence of a date on the warrant indicating the 

5 date by which the provider must make disclosure to the 

6 governmental entity, the provider shall promptly respond 

7 to the warrant. 

8 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS OF WIRE OR ELECTRONIC COMMU9 NICATIONS IN A REMOTE COMPUTING SERVICE.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub11 sections (i) and (j), a governmental entity may re12 quire the disclosure by a provider of remote com13 puting service of the contents of a wire or electronic 

14 communication that is stored, held, or maintained by 

15 that service only if the governmental entity obtains 

16 a warrant issued using the procedures described in 

17 the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (or, in the 

18 case of a State court, issued using State warrant 

19 procedures) that— 

20 ‘‘(A) is issued by a court of competent ju21 risdiction; and 

22 ‘‘(B) may indicate the date by which the 

23 provider must make the disclosure to the gov24 ernmental entity. 


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1 In the absence of a date on the warrant indicating 

2 the date by which the provider must make disclosure 

3 to the governmental entity, the provider shall 

4 promptly respond to the warrant. 

5 ‘‘(2) APPLICABILITY.—Paragraph (1) is appli6 cable with respect to any wire or electronic commu7 nication that is stored, held, or maintained by the 

8 provider— 

9 ‘‘(A) on behalf of, and received by means 

10 of electronic transmission from (or created by 

11 means of computer processing of communica12 tion received by means of electronic trans13 mission from), a subscriber or customer of such 

14 remote computing service; and 

15 ‘‘(B) solely for the purpose of providing 

16 storage or computer processing services to such 

17 subscriber or customer, if the provider is not 

18 authorized to access the contents of any such 

19 communications for purposes of providing any 

20 services other than storage or computer proc21 essing. 

22 ‘‘(c) RECORDS CONCERNING ELECTRONIC COMMU23 NICATION SERVICE OR REMOTE COMPUTING SERVICE.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub25 sections (i) and (j), a governmental entity may reVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:04 Apr 29, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H699.RDS H699

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1 quire the disclosure by a provider of electronic com2 munication service or remote computing service of a 

3 record or other information pertaining to a sub4 scriber to or customer of such service (not including 

5 the contents of wire or electronic communications), 

6 only— 

7 ‘‘(A) if a governmental entity obtains a 

8 warrant issued using the procedures described 

9 in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (or, 

10 in the case of a State court, issued using State 

11 warrant procedures) that— 

12 ‘‘(i) is issued by a court of competent 

13 jurisdiction directing the disclosure; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) may indicate the date by which 

15 the provider must make the disclosure to 

16 the governmental entity; 

17 ‘‘(B) if a governmental entity obtains a 

18 court order directing the disclosure under sub19 section (d); 

20 ‘‘(C) with the lawful consent of the sub21 scriber or customer; or 

22 ‘‘(D) as otherwise authorized in paragraph 

23 (2). 

24 ‘‘(2) SUBSCRIBER OR CUSTOMER INFORMA25 TION.—A provider of electronic communication servVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:04 Apr 29, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H699.RDS H699

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1 ice or remote computing service shall, in response to 

2 an administrative subpoena authorized by Federal or 

3 State statute, a grand jury, trial, or civil discovery 

4 subpoena, or any means available under paragraph 

5 (1), disclose to a governmental entity the— 

6 ‘‘(A) name; 

7 ‘‘(B) address; 

8 ‘‘(C) local and long distance telephone con9 nection records, or records of session times and 

10 durations; 

11 ‘‘(D) length of service (including start 

12 date) and types of service used; 

13 ‘‘(E) telephone or instrument number or 

14 other subscriber or customer number or iden15 tity, including any temporarily assigned net16 work address; and 

17 ‘‘(F) means and source of payment for 

18 such service (including any credit card or bank 

19 account number); 

20 of a subscriber or customer of such service. 

21 ‘‘(3) NOTICE NOT REQUIRED.—A governmental 

22 entity that receives records or information under 

23 this subsection is not required to provide notice to 

24 a subscriber or customer.’’; 

25 (2) in subsection (d)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘(b) or’’; 

2 (B) by striking ‘‘the contents of a wire or 

3 electronic communication, or’’; 

4 (C) by striking ‘‘sought,’’ and inserting 

5 ‘‘sought’’; and 

6 (D) by striking ‘‘section’’ and inserting 

7 ‘‘subsection’’; and 

8 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(h) NOTICE.—Except as provided in section 2705, 

10 a provider of electronic communication service or remote 

11 computing service may notify a subscriber or customer of 

12 a receipt of a warrant, court order, subpoena, or request 

13 under subsection (a), (b), (c), or (d) of this section. 

14 ‘‘(i) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION RELATED TO LEGAL

15 PROCESS.—Nothing in this section or in section 2702 

16 shall limit the authority of a governmental entity to use 

17 an administrative subpoena authorized by Federal or 

18 State statute, a grand jury, trial, or civil discovery sub19 poena, or a warrant issued using the procedures described 

20 in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (or, in the 

21 case of a State court, issued using State warrant proce22 dures) by a court of competent jurisdiction to— 

23 ‘‘(1) require an originator, addressee, or in24 tended recipient of a wire or electronic communica25 tion to disclose a wire or electronic communication 


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1 (including the contents of that communication) to 

2 the governmental entity; 

3 ‘‘(2) require a person or entity that provides an 

4 electronic communication service to the officers, di5 rectors, employees, or agents of the person or entity 

6 (for the purpose of carrying out their duties) to dis7 close a wire or electronic communication (including 

8 the contents of that communication) to or from the 

9 person or entity itself or to or from an officer, direc10 tor, employee, or agent of the entity to a govern11 mental entity, if the wire or electronic communica12 tion is stored, held, or maintained on an electronic 

13 communications system owned, operated, or con14 trolled by the person or entity; or 

15 ‘‘(3) require a person or entity that provides a 

16 remote computing service or electronic communica17 tion service to disclose a wire or electronic commu18 nication (including the contents of that communica19 tion) that advertises or promotes a product or serv20 ice and that has been made readily accessible to the 

21 general public. 

22 ‘‘(j) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION RELATED TO CON23 GRESSIONAL SUBPOENAS.—Nothing in this section or in 

24 section 2702 shall limit the power of inquiry vested in the 

25 Congress by Article I of the Constitution of the United 


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1 States, including the authority to compel the production 

2 of a wire or electronic communication (including the con3 tents of a wire or electronic communication) that is stored, 

4 held, or maintained by a person or entity that provides 

5 remote computing service or electronic communication 

6 service.’’. 

7 SEC. 4. DELAYED NOTICE. 

8 Section 2705 of title 18, United States Code, is 

9 amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘§ 2705. Delayed notice 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A governmental entity acting 

12 under section 2703 may apply to a court for an order di13 recting a provider of electronic communication service or 

14 remote computing service to which a warrant, order, sub15 poena, or other directive under section 2703 is directed 

16 not to notify any other person of the existence of the war17 rant, order, subpoena, or other directive. 

18 ‘‘(b) DETERMINATION.—A court shall grant a re19 quest for an order made under subsection (a) for delayed 

20 notification of up to 180 days if the court determines that 

21 there is reason to believe that notification of the existence 

22 of the warrant, order, subpoena, or other directive will 

23 likely result in— 

24 ‘‘(1) endangering the life or physical safety of 

25 an individual; 


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1 ‘‘(2) flight from prosecution; 

2 ‘‘(3) destruction of or tampering with evidence; 

3 ‘‘(4) intimidation of potential witnesses; or 

4 ‘‘(5) otherwise seriously jeopardizing an inves5 tigation or unduly delaying a trial. 

6 ‘‘(c) EXTENSION.—Upon request by a governmental 

7 entity, a court may grant one or more extensions, for peri8 ods of up to 180 days each, of an order granted in accord9 ance with subsection (b).’’. 

10 SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

11 Nothing in this Act or an amendment made by this 

12 Act shall be construed to preclude the acquisition by the 

13 United States Government of— 

14 (1) the contents of a wire or electronic commu15 nication pursuant to other lawful authorities, includ16 ing the authorities under chapter 119 of title 18 

17 (commonly known as the ‘‘Wiretap Act’’), the For18 eign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 

19 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.), or any other provision of Fed20 eral law not specifically amended by this Act; or 

21 (2) records or other information relating to a 

22 subscriber or customer of any electronic communica23 tion service or remote computing service (not includ24 ing the content of such communications) pursuant to 

25 the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 


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1 (50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.), chapter 119 of title 18 

2 (commonly known as the ‘‘Wiretap Act’’), or any 

3 other provision of Federal law not specifically 

4 amended by this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives April 27, 2016. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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