Industry, privacy advocates praise digital privacy bill

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“The upshot? If the government wants to track your cell phone or seize your email or read your private IMs or social network messages, the bill would require that it first go to court and get a search warrant based on probable cause,” Bankston said.

Bankston called the bill a step in the right direction but said it preserves a current statutory rule that allows the government to obtain consumers’ past location data without probably cause, which he called “unfortunate.”

The White House released its set of cybersecurity legislative recommendations last week, which emphasized giving law enforcement access to the information it needs to prosecute cyber criminals. There are also multiple consumer privacy bills currently in front of Congress.