A Republican lawmaker again called for updates to...

A Republican lawmaker again called for updates to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to better protect U.S. citizens’ privacy. “Today we find ourselves in a fight of epic proportion as it relates to our individual liberties and their preservation,” Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., said Monday at Heritage Action’s 2014 Conservative Policy Summit, lamenting an “out-of-control surveillance state,” the many leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, and secret courts with secret roles. He cited a bill he introduced last summer, HR-1847, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act, which would require the government to have a warrant or written consent before reading email or text messages. That bill has 24 co-sponsors and was referred to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations in mid-June. Salmon is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he chairs the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. Omnibus legislation “probably wouldn’t stand a very good chance of passage,” Salmon said, saying he backs multiple pieces of legislation on the topic and the need for a step-by-step approach. Other issues remain on the table in terms of commercial tracking, Salmon said. “I hate the cookies,” he said, saying “that should be addressed as well.”