Authorities can get all up in your Facebook account with relative ease, so a consortium of companies that includes Google, Santa Monica-based AOL and the ACLU is lobbying congress to enact legislation that will protect the privacy of everyday information stored in “the cloud.”

The Digital Due Process Coalition on Tuesday said it would lobby congress to update the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act to reflect advances in technology, including the move toward storing private data (Google Docs, Facebook, Flickr, email) in the internet's “cloud.” The group wants a federal law requiring a search warrant to access such data — just as would be the case if cops wanted to rifle through your home-office drawers.

As the law apparently stands, authorities can get into your Facebook data and other online accounts with just a subpoena to the corporate host, according to the New York Times.

“Technology has changed dramatically in the last 20 years, but the law has not,” said Jim Dempsey of the Center for Democracy and Technology, which has led the coalition effort. “The traditional standard for the government to search your home or office and read your mail or seize your personal papers is a judicial warrant. The law needs to be clear that the same standard applies to email and documents stored with a service provider … “

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