The ECPA, Green Energy, and Paycheck Unfairness

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act

The House and Senate are holding hearings this week on reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

CEI and other free-market groups have submitted a joint written statement urging Congress to update the law to better reflect users’ privacy expectations in the information age.

“ECPA, the primary federal statute governing privacy in electronic communications, was enacted by Congress in 1986. While the law has been revised several times since then, many key sections remain largely unchanged.12 In the 24 years since ECPA’s initial enactment, technological evolution has profoundly altered how businesses and individuals communicate in ways that policymakers could not have envisioned in 1986.”

Green Energy

Japan has complained to the WTO that Canada’s green energy programs violate WTO rules.

Adjunct Scholar Fran Smith explains why Japan has a point.

“Primarily Japan’s complaint hits Canada’s domestic content requirements in its ‘feed-in tariff’ (FIT) program for Ontario, which requires that the renewable energy equipment, such as solar panels, wind turbines, biomass, and waterpower generation equipment, be produced in Ontario in whole or in part. […] From my quick review of the Canadian program, Japan seems to have a real cause for its complaint. Other countries looking to follow Canada’s example for green jobs creation should be wary about including their own protectionist measures.”

Paycheck Unfairness

Lobbyists are pushing Harry Reid to bring the Paycheck Fairness Act to the Senate floor.

Senior Counsel Hans Bader argues that the Paycheck Fairness Act will have negative consequences.

“[The Act] would force some employers to pay employees with dangerous or unpleasant jobs as little as employees with safe and pleasant jobs — as long as the different jobs have different gender breakdowns (that is, if one job is performed mostly by men, and the other job mostly by women — even if the employer does not discriminate in hiring at all, and eagerly hires qualified applicants of both sexes).”