As the law currently stands, emails left on online servers for over 180 days are considered “abandoned property” and can be obtained for investigations without a warrant. This is why we in the people’s House acted this week with an overwhelming bipartisan majority to pass H.R. 699: the Email Privacy Act.  I cosponsored and voted for this legislation to ensure that emails are protected by requiring law enforcement to obtain warrants for this virtual property when conducting criminal investigations, bringing email standards in line with those already established for wire-taps.  Security and law enforcement are critical parts of our society, but we cannot afford to sacrifice our constitutional liberties.