Last Thursday, Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (CalECPA) into law, which requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant before accessing or searching individuals’ digital information, including emails, text messages, online materials, cellphones and other tracking devices.
The bill was supported by a wide coalition, including the ACLU of California, the California Newspaper Publishers Association, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Library Association, Apple, Inc., the California Chamber of Commerce Association, Microsoft Corp., Google, Inc. and the California Public Defenders Association.
Not surprisingly, California is the trend setter and is the first state to enact a law aimed to combat warrantless searches of digital information. We anticipate that other states will follow.