To Strengthen America (Part I – HR 1847)

Written on Saturday, March 22, 2014 by Reneta Adamson


At the 2014 Conservative Policy Summit sponsored by Heritage Action, Jim DeMint the President of the Heritage Foundation, called for the uniting of the House and the Senate in the supporting of ten congressional bills that “if allowed to inform our laws and our way of governing, will make that first great stride toward the three things we all wish to achieve: a strong economy, a strong society, and a strong America.” He further states, “Let this be both our goal and our starting point: no matter our parties or philosophies, we can unite if we recognize we’re running in the same direction.” http://blog.heritage.org/2014/02/10/...onger-america/

So what are the ten congressional bills that were discussed at the 2014 Conservative Policy Summit?
This article is the first of ten articles reviewing these ten bills.

H.R. Bill 1847

Also known as the “Electronic Communications Privacy Act” was introduced in the House of Representatives on the 7th of May 2013 by Rep. Matt Salmon of Arizona and was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. It amends the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 making it against the law for a provider of remote computing service or a provider of electronic communication service to the public (i.e. Google or Verizon) from knowingly giving to any government entity the contents of any communication that they have stored.

This is what will keep the NSA from collecting our phone conversations, emails, and other communications such as our text messages. The bill further requires that in order for the government to require such disclosure of private information from our providers that it can only do so with a warrant. A copy of this warrant is to be presented to the costumer (us people) within 3 days by a government entity and within 10 days by a law enforcement agency of their receiving the contents or our conversations telling us that our information was requested and received by a government entity.

The main points of this bill are:

  • To protect the privacy of the American citizen
  • Eliminate the 180 day rule that made it possible for the government to access our information without a warrant.
  • Require a search warrant to collect information.
  • Outlines details of how and what information the government can access.
  • Requires a Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report.

A summary of the bill can be seen at http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-...ouse-bill/1847

There are three other bills in congress right now that mirror this bill. They are Senate bill 607 also called the “Electronic Communications Privacy Act” and H.R. bill 1852 called “The Email Privacy Act” and H.R. bill 3557 called “Reasonable Expectation of American Privacy Act” all three of these bills have bipartisan support. This is an example of the unity our country is in need of and is proof that congress can come together. http://www.legislationandpolicy.com/...email-privacy/ Let us hope that they will chose one of these bills to unite on. The S 607 and HR 1847 are identical bills. There are currently 24 co-sponsors of HR 1847 in the house but we need more members of congress to give their support. http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-...847/cosponsors

The Heritage Action for America has an agenda to unite America and I think that it is a good thing. If we unite in our purpose we will become strong again. I think that as a country we have been divided long enough. http://heritageaction.com/policysummit/#.Uyy762dOXmJ

As American Citizens it is our civil duty to educate ourselves on the issues and to speak up, letting our voices be heard by our representatives in Congress so that they know what we the people desire of them. I have found a user friendly site that gives the contact information for all of the Senators and Representatives for every American so that each one of us can easily contact our congress. http://whoismyrepresentative.com/ So I am asking you to get involved, to let your voice be heard.

Read the full Electronic Communications Privacy Act for yourself:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr1847/text

Here are a couple of other articles regarding our privacy:
http://patriotupdate.com/articles/violation-of-privacy/
http://blog.heritage.org/2013/03/21/...g-your-e-mail/

Watch for the next nine parts of this series “To Strengthen America” on PatriotUpdate.com.


Read the rest of this Patriot Update article here: http://patriotupdate.com/articles/st...Fwmdi7pLO60.99