SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 12/05/12 -- SpiderOak, the 'zero-knowledge' cloud backup, sync and sharing environment, commends the Senate's recent passage of an amendment to the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). As an advocate for privacy rights, SpiderOak firmly believes this legislation is an encouraging victory for online privacy and the future of how consumers interact online.

Prior to passage of the amendment, investigators could read email and other private documents without judicial approval. The now outdated law has been updated to require judicial approval -- signifying the first in what will hopefully be a number of changes to bring relevancy to privacy laws enacted in a different era that did not factor in the prevalence of online data as part of our everyday lives.

"SpiderOak hopes that the ECPA amendment is the first of many efforts that will take privacy rights into the 21st century. Times have changed and so must our policies," said Ethan Oberman, CEO and Co-Founder of SpiderOak. "Users now store vast amounts of information online, and our laws must be updated to reflect today's reality. As a company centered around user privacy, SpiderOak hopes officials will continue this conversation and work toward the passage of additional legislation that protects user privacy into the future."

In 2013, SpiderOak advocates that government and business need to work together to create additional transparency and openness throughout the Internet. Currently, there are far too many 'unknowns' relating to what companies are allowed to do, what they are able to do and what they are doing with unique and private user data -- all of which can happen without the expressed and clear consent of the individual. 'Big Data' is growing daily but it should not be able to continue unchecked and without boundary.

About SpiderOak

SpiderOak provides a cloud backup, sync, and sharing environment that is 100-percent private. Our Zero-Knowledge Privacy Standard ensures absolute confidentiality between you and your data, everywhere, every time and from every device. With SpiderOak, you maintain full and complete control of your data in a centralized, managed and fully protected environment. SpiderOak: we've got your back(up). For more information, see: https://spideroak.com and follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SpiderOak.