Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act

Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act

This bill expands prohibited disclosures of stored electronic communications under the Stored Communications Act.

The Stored Communications Act generally prohibits certain technology providers—remote computing service (RCS) providers and electronic communication service (ECS) providers—from disclosing the contents of stored electronic communications to anyone, including the government; and records or information pertaining to a customer or subscriber to a government entity.

This bill extends the general prohibitions on disclosure to an additional type of technology provider: intermediary service providers. Intermediary service providers (commonly referred to as data brokers) are companies that deliver, store, or process communications for RCS and ECS providers.

The bill also limits the authority of law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies to access certain customer and subscriber records or illegitimately obtained information. With respect to such records, the bill

• prohibits law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies from obtaining the records or information from a third party in exchange for anything of value (e.g., purchasing them);
• prohibits other government agencies from sharing the records or information with law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies; and
• prohibits the use of such records or information in any trial, hearing, or proceeding.

Additionally, the bill requires the government to obtain a court order before aquiring certain customer and subscriber records or any illegitimately obtained information from a third party.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov