Just Security: Modernizing ECPA: We need Congressional action despite DOJ’s new gag order guidelines

Just Security: Modernizing ECPA: We need Congressional action despite DOJ’s new gag order guidelines By Ali Cooper-Ponte:

On October 24, the Justice Department announced new binding guidance designed to limit the routine use of non-disclosure orders that are used to prevent tech companies from notifying their customers about legal process issued under the Stored Communications Act, like search warrants, that they receive for  information in customer accounts.

The new DOJ guidance requires that prosecutors tailor their requests for gag orders to the facts of each case, with the hope of ensuring that the orders are both justified and time limited. Importantly, such orders must now be limited to a duration of less than a year, unless there are “exceptional circumstances.”