Electronic Communications Privacy Act
E10928
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act is a U.S. federal law that governs the interception, access, and disclosure of electronic communications and associated data by government and private entities.
All labels observed (4)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 | 9 |
| Electronic Communications Privacy Act canonical | 7 |
| ECPA | 3 |
| Wiretap Act | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T108085 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Electronic Communications Privacy Act Context triple: [USA PATRIOT Act, amends, Electronic Communications Privacy Act]
-
A.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is a U.S. federal law that governs the procedures for physical and electronic surveillance and collection of foreign intelligence information, particularly for national security and counterintelligence purposes.
-
B.
Espionage Act of 1917
The Espionage Act of 1917 is a U.S. federal law enacted during World War I that criminalizes interference with military operations, support for U.S. enemies, and certain forms of dissent, and has been widely used and debated in national security and free speech cases.
-
C.
USA PATRIOT Act
The USA PATRIOT Act is a U.S. federal law enacted after the September 11, 2001 attacks that expanded government surveillance, intelligence-gathering, and anti-money-laundering powers in the name of counterterrorism and national security.
-
D.
Freedom of Information Act
The Freedom of Information Act is a U.S. law that grants the public the right to access records from federal government agencies, promoting transparency and accountability.
-
E.
Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002
The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 is a U.S. federal law that established sweeping reforms to improve corporate governance, financial reporting, and auditor independence in response to major accounting scandals.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Electronic Communications Privacy Act Target entity description: The Electronic Communications Privacy Act is a U.S. federal law that governs the interception, access, and disclosure of electronic communications and associated data by government and private entities.
-
A.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is a U.S. federal law that governs the procedures for physical and electronic surveillance and collection of foreign intelligence information, particularly for national security and counterintelligence purposes.
-
B.
Espionage Act of 1917
The Espionage Act of 1917 is a U.S. federal law enacted during World War I that criminalizes interference with military operations, support for U.S. enemies, and certain forms of dissent, and has been widely used and debated in national security and free speech cases.
-
C.
USA PATRIOT Act
The USA PATRIOT Act is a U.S. federal law enacted after the September 11, 2001 attacks that expanded government surveillance, intelligence-gathering, and anti-money-laundering powers in the name of counterterrorism and national security.
-
D.
Freedom of Information Act
The Freedom of Information Act is a U.S. law that grants the public the right to access records from federal government agencies, promoting transparency and accountability.
-
E.
Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002
The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 is a U.S. federal law that established sweeping reforms to improve corporate governance, financial reporting, and auditor independence in response to major accounting scandals.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (51)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
United States federal statute
ⓘ
privacy law ⓘ surveillance law ⓘ |
| affectedBy |
USA FREEDOM Act
ⓘ
USA PATRIOT Act ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs | Title III amendments ⓘ |
| amends | Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
government entities
ⓘ
law enforcement agencies ⓘ private parties ⓘ service providers ⓘ |
| codifiedIn | Title 18 of the United States Code ⓘ |
| component |
Pen Register and Trap and Trace Devices provisions
ⓘ
Stored Communications Act ⓘ Electronic Communications Privacy Act self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Wiretap Act
|
| contains |
exceptions for consent of a party to the communication
ⓘ
exceptions for law enforcement in emergency situations ⓘ exceptions for provider operations ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| effectiveDate | 1986-10-21 ⓘ |
| enactedBy | United States Congress ⓘ |
| governs |
access to stored electronic files
ⓘ
access to stored emails ⓘ real-time interception of communications ⓘ use of pen registers ⓘ use of trap and trace devices ⓘ |
| hasBeenCriticizedFor | outdated standards for access to stored communications based on age of data ⓘ |
| hasLongTermDebateOn | adequacy of privacy protections for modern cloud services ⓘ |
| influencedBy | advances in computer and telecommunications technology ⓘ |
| jurisdiction | federal ⓘ |
| provides |
civil remedies for unlawful interception or access
ⓘ
criminal penalties for unlawful interception of communications ⓘ exclusionary rule for illegally obtained communications in some circumstances ⓘ |
| publicLawNumber | Public Law 99-508 ⓘ |
| purpose |
to extend restrictions on wiretaps to electronic data transmissions
ⓘ
to protect privacy of electronic communications ⓘ |
| regulates |
access to associated data such as metadata
ⓘ
access to stored electronic communications ⓘ disclosure of electronic communications ⓘ interception of electronic communications ⓘ |
| requires |
court orders for certain interceptions
ⓘ
warrants or court orders for access to stored communications under specified conditions ⓘ |
| shortName |
Electronic Communications Privacy Act
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
ECPA
|
| signedBy | Ronald Reagan ⓘ |
| signingDate | 1986-10-21 ⓘ |
| subjectMatter |
cellular telephone communications
ⓘ
computer network communications ⓘ digital communications metadata ⓘ electronic mail ⓘ |
| titleOfAct |
Electronic Communications Privacy Act
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986
|
| yearEnacted | 1986 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Electronic Communications Privacy Act Description of subject: The Electronic Communications Privacy Act is a U.S. federal law that governs the interception, access, and disclosure of electronic communications and associated data by government and private entities.
Referenced by (20)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986
subject surface form:
National Security Letter
Electronic Communications Privacy Act
→
shortName
→
Electronic Communications Privacy Act
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
this entity surface form:
ECPA
Electronic Communications Privacy Act
→
titleOfAct
→
Electronic Communications Privacy Act
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
this entity surface form:
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986
Electronic Communications Privacy Act
→
component
→
Electronic Communications Privacy Act
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
this entity surface form:
Wiretap Act
this entity surface form:
ECPA
this entity surface form:
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986
Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968
→
hasBeenAmendedBy
→
Electronic Communications Privacy Act
ⓘ
this entity surface form:
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968
→
amendedBy
→
Electronic Communications Privacy Act
ⓘ
this entity surface form:
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986
this entity surface form:
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986
this entity surface form:
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986
subject surface form:
Stored Communications Act
subject surface form:
Electronic Communications Privacy Act
this entity surface form:
ECPA
subject surface form:
Stored Communications Act
this entity surface form:
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986
this entity surface form:
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986