Today, President Trump announced his choice for the new leader of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). While his choice of candidate has generally been well received by commentators on both side of the isle it is unlikely he will implement the needed reforms to the FBI. While Jim Comey and the FBI have been grabbing headlines over the past year, few pundits, or politicians are seriously talking about the true threat surrounding the national police force.

The global community has been rocked by tragedy after tragedy over the last several weeks, but few instances have captured the international spotlight as readily as the recent attacks in London . The international community was quick to offer their support to the beleaguered Britain, but a troubling response came from that nation's own leader.

More than 230,000 computer systems from across the globe were recently attacked by a vicious ransomware virus, named “Wanna Cry,” that crippled computers for some of America’s largest companies, including FedEx. The virus, one of the largest of its kind, was paid for by the American taxpayers. How did this happen? How did this life threatening tool end up in the hands of seemingly illiterate hackers? Simple answer: government incompetency.

Freedom of speech ranks chiefly among the civil rights protected by the First Amendment.The founders recognized that a free society must be allowed to grapple with conflicting ideas and viewpoints in order to flourish. Students have been taught the significance of free speech for centuries and American society has counted on educators to ensure the next generation of citizens are well equipped to handle opposing viewpoints. The great tradition of schools and universities being bastions of free speech and civil discourse has been ingrained in the American psyche and upheld by academics and administrators alike, until recently.

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act (FISA) is set to expire on December of 2017, and the debate over Fourth Amendment protections vs. security will be revisited. Intelligence officials have been pushing for its renewal for a year already. The use of Section 702 for spying on Americans created a national uproar when revealed by Edward Snowden, who disclosed classified information about the mass surveillance of Americans by the government.

Two years after the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 387) was first introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, it was revisited Monday, Febuary 6th, and passed unanimously. This is a huge victory for proponents of digital privacy, but the fight is not over quite yet. Now that is has been passed in the House, it will need to be passed by the Senate before Americans’ right to email privacy can finally be updated for the 21st century.

On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and urge him or her to cosponsor the Email Privacy Act, H.R. 387, if they have not already done so. Introduced by Rep. Kevin Yoder, the Email Privacy Act brings the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986 into the 21st Century.