Document Type
Brief
Case Name
United States v. Bradford C. Councilman
Publication Date
11-12-2004
Abstract
No. 03-1383
United States v. Bradford C. Councilman
On appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
From the Summary of Argument
Congress passed ECPA to update the existing surveillance law framework for new technologies. Recognizing the threat to privacy posed by the continuous, systematic acquisition of electronic communications during their transmission, Congress extended existing prohibitions against the unauthorized “intercept[ion]” of wire and oral communications, enacted in Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, Pub. L. No. 90-351, tit. III, §§ 801–804, 82 Stat. 211 (codified as amended at 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 2510-2522 (West 2000 & Supp. 2004)), to electronic communications. Congress intended for Title III to protect electronic communications, like telephone calls, during the entirety of the transmission phase. ECPA’s legislative history fully rebuts defendant’s contention that electronic communications move in and out of Title III’s umbrella depending on whether, at a precise moment in time, they are between or within the computers transmitting them to the user’s mailbox.
Recommended Citation
Bellia, Patricia L. and Swire, Peter P., "Brief on Rehearing En Banc for Senator Patrick J. Leahy as Amicus Curiae Supporting the United States and Urging Reversal" (2004). Court Briefs. 65.
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/sct_briefs/65
Comments
Senator Patrick J. Leahy is the original sponsor of the Senate version of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA), Pub. L. No. 99-508, 100 Stat. 1848, and currently the ranking Democratic Senator on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Senator Leahy has a long-standing interest in the protection of privacy and the promotion of the Internet. He worked closely with the Department of Justice to ensure strong privacy protection for electronic communications.