Washington, DC –
U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D?MD), chairman of the Judiciary Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee, questioned government and private sector witnesses today about how to balance individual privacy rights with other interests such as the interests of the private sector for certainty, efficiency and customer trust.  Cardin’s questions came at a Senate Judiciary hearing entitled
“The Electronic Communications Privacy Act: Promoting Security and Protecting Privacy in the Digital Age”

“Technology will always evolve faster than government.  As Congress considers potential changes to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), we must strive to find the proper balance between an individual?s right to privacy with the government’s need to protect the national security and conduct law enforcement investigations. We also need to make sure that changes to the statute do not bring about unintended consequences that might stifle newly developing technologies.

“Maryland has one of the highest concentrations of technology jobs in the nation, with 10 percent of jobs classified as technology-related.  We led the nation in 2009 with the largest growth in computer systems design jobs. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Congress in ensuring that we have an ECPA statute that works in the 21
^st century for Marylanders and all Americans.”