Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Ted Poe (R-Texas), and Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) are pushing an amendment to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act that would require a warrant for authorities to obtain any email, instead of allowing free access to messages older than six months.

I wrote in January about Google’s decision to require a warrant even where the law does not, so the ECPA’s shortcomings in the digital age (the law is more than twenty years old) are sometimes mitigated by responsible corporate policies.

But a legitimate amendment like Lofgren’s would apply Google’s common sense approach to 4th Amendment rights to all such service providers. There’s simply no excuse not to get this done.

David Kappos thinks software patents are just fine, but I’m interested in what his as-yet unknown successor will have to say on the matter.

The Digital Advertising Alliance, announcing they’ll ignore “do not track” browser headers:

A ‘default on’ do-not-track mechanism offers consumers and businesses inconsistencies and confusion instead of comfort and security.

Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas), replying to the DAA statement:

If consumers want to be tracked online, they should have to opt-in to be tracked, instead of the other way around.

Advertisers should concede the default “on” status of tracking prevention. The appearance of disrespect for consumer privacy will encourage new legislation on this front, probably from Barton and Markey. It will be an easy target for viral online support campaigns, and, eventually, advertisers may face federal regulations far harsher than defaulting to no tracking.