After passing unanimously with bipartisan support and a 419-0 final vote in the House of Representatives last April — only to be derailed in the Senate — the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699) was reintroduced to the House by Congressmen Kevin Yoder and Jared Polis on January 9. The bill aims to update the Electronics Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which was passed in 1986 in order to extend government restrictions on wire taps to include “stored electronic communications.”

Let’s talk about technology in 1986. That’s the year that IBM introduced its first laptop computer, which weighed 12 pounds — a full 18 pounds less than their desktop. Compaq introduced its revolutionary Deskpro 386, which boasted an impressive 32-bit microprocessor. Phones were still attached by cords to the wall and this is what an external hard drive looked like.

Even a full six years later, in January 1994, the hosts of the Today Show were literally asking “What is Internet, anyway?” Their answer: “Internet is that massive computer network; the one that’s becoming really big now.”

Fast forward to 2017 and that massive computer network has undoubtedly become “really big now.” You can get a laptop that weighs as little as 1.53 pounds and has 2.2GHz of CPU. No ones uses desktops anymore; we all have computers in our pockets; there are full-grown adults who have never seen a phone cord; and an “external hard drive” looks like this.

So with the massive changes in technology, it’s pretty obvious that an electronics bill from 1986 could never be enough to protect our digital privacy. Cloud storage is a particular issue with the ECPA, as current law allows for law enforcement to access any communications or documents stored in the cloud after 90 days with only a subpoena. That means that no approval from a judge is necessary — they can just go in and take a look around.

And of course, it’s not just the hardware and software that’s changed so much in the past 40 years. It’s also the way we interact with those technologies. While not everyone has illegal content or information about illegal activities stored in the cloud, it’s pretty safe to say that most people have something embarrassing or personal stored somewhere other than a physical device that is in their direct possession.

After passing in the House last year, the Email Privacy Act was weakened by the Senate Majority Whip, Senator John Cornyn of Texas. The Senator proposed two amendments that would expand the government’s access in cases of counterterrorism and the bill didn’t make it off the Senate floor. With the recently sworn-in new House and Senate, privacy advocates hope that the bill will make it all the way through this time.

If you’re concerned about the fact that your “stored electronic communications” are protected by a law written when the fastest personal computers had less processing speed than a smartphone, the best thing you can do is reach out to your representatives and tell them you support the Email Privacy Act. You can find out who your rep is — and how to reach them — here. It’s easy, quick — and it could make a huge difference for all of us who love “that massive computer network.”