By Nicole A. Ozer

The California legislature today took an important step toward updating the laws that protect our electronic information when the state Senate’s Committee on Public Safety approved the California Electronic Privacy Act (CalECPA).

The bill, which enjoys bipartisan authorship and the support of numerous leading technology companies including Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft, along with organizations like the ACLU of California, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology, now moves on to the full Senate.

The technology that we use for everything from balancing our budget to finding a date is constantly evolving – but the laws that protect our electronic information are stuck in the digital dark ages.

That’s why it’s so important that the legislature pass, and that Gov. Jerry Brown signs, this essential piece of legislation, authored by Sens. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Joel Anderson (R-Alpine).

The government is increasingly taking advantage of outdated privacy laws to turn mobile phones into tracking devices and to access sensitive emails, purchase records, digital documents and more without proper judicial oversight. And while the courts and Congress are slowly retrofitting existing laws to the modern world, technology moves too fast to let them move at their own (often glacial) pace. It’s time for California and other states to kick start the process by updating our own privacy laws.

Get a warrant

CalECPA requires that police go to a judge and get a warrant before searching our online accounts or personal devices for information about who we are, where we go, who we know, and what we do.

Notice, transparency, and reporting provisions make sure that the law is followed and allow ongoing oversight. CalECPA also includes appropriate exceptions to ensure that the police can continue to effectively and efficiently protect public safety.

Updating our electronic privacy laws will protect sensitive information and support the digital economy. In the wake of the Snowden revelations, Americans are increasingly concerned about warrantless government access to their digital information: 70 percent of social networking site users are concerned about government access to their information. And companies recognize that eroding trust in technology impacts their bottom line, with cloud computing companies likely to lose as much as $35 billion as a direct result of reduced confidence in the security of online information.

CalECPA would protect sensitive information and rebuild trust in online services by providing the photos on your smartphone or the emails in your Gmail account with the same protections that currently apply to the printed photos and personal letters you store in your home.

You shouldn’t have to choose between using technology and keeping your personal life private. And companies and individuals shouldn’t be stuck with privacy laws from the digital dark ages. So if you live in California, contact your representative today and tell them to support CalECPA.

Nicole A. Ozer is director of technology and civil liberties policy for the ACLU of California. Follow ACLU_SoCal on Twitter.

By Zara Lockshin

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced new rules on Thursday that will make it easier for the government to imprison thousands of immigrants – including lawful permanent residents, asylum seekers and military veterans – who wish to live in their community with their families as they challenge deportation proceedings.

This policy is not only misguided but costly. The U.S. spends approximately $2 billion a year on immigration detention when alternatives such as supervised release are equally effective at making sure individuals show up to hearings and at protecting public safety.

And for individuals with serious medical and mental health conditions, immigration detention can be life threatening.

For example, the government’s detention of Giovanni Taylor, a former lawful permanent resident and U.S. Marine, who is suffering from a severe form of sickle cell anemia. The government had previously granted Taylor humanitarian relief so that he could receive life-saving treatment in the U.S. and reside with his wife, a U.S. citizen, and children in Los Angeles.

However, without warning in January, the government reversed course and sent Taylor, 39, to an immigration jail in Adelanto while they attempt to deport him to Belize, a country that lacks the specialized medical care Taylor desperately needs. The government claims that Taylor can be detained and deported based his 2009 conviction after a domestic dispute with his first wife. However, he has no other arrests or convictions in the decades he has lived in this country. Moreover, he has dutifully complied with his conditions of supervision before the government suddenly decided to detain him.

ICE officials are aware that Taylor suffers from sickle cell anemia, a life-threatening condition that has severely worsened in detention. Since he was detained in January, he has been admitted to the hospital twice for blood transfusions and other treatments.

Yet the agency refuses to release him even though ICE’s own policies discourage detention of individuals known to be suffering from serious physical or mental illness, who have served in the U.S. military and have close family ties to the community.

The ACLU is deeply concerned that Taylor’s detention places his life in undue risk and has called on ICE to exercise its discretion to release Taylor so that he can regain his health under the care of his physicians and family. Unfortunately, the new rules will add extra layers of bureaucracy that will erode the ability of ICE officials to exercise discretion and release military veterans and others like Taylor who pose no risk to public safety.

The ACLU has long fought ICE’s inhumane detention policies, including its unconstitutional practice of holding immigrants in prolonged and often indefinite detention without any opportunity to make the case that they should be released on bond.

ICE’s new rules are a continuation of its draconian detention policies and a disheartening step in the wrong direction.

Read ACLU SoCal's letter to ICE

Zara Lockshin is communications intern at the ACLU of Southern California. Follow ACLU_SoCal.