A 31-year-old federal law on electronic communications needs to be updated given the wide range of recent technological advances, according to privacy advocates and tech companies.

In response, last week, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, introduced the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) Modernization Act of 2017—which brings government policy up-to-date with these advances. The current ECPA , a law from 1986, is used to set rules regarding how government agencies can access email, text messages, location information and other personal data.

When asked about the proposal, Laura Jehl , an attorney at Baker & Hostetler and who formerly was chief litigation counsel at AOL, said the Senate bill modernizes the ECPA, which “has been the target of significant criticism from privacy groups and tech companies that it has failed to keep pace with technological advancements and the advent of big data.”