As the first state to take an audacious movement against the recent revelations of the PRISM leak, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed House Bill 2268 on June 14th, providing Texans security from providers who are seeking to snoop in citizen's e-mails. Immediately effective, it requires any state and law enforcement electronic communication services or remote computing services to stay away from private electronic storage. Escalated requests from state and local governments have officially been on the table since Whistleblowers Snowden, Manning, and more stood up with truths they believed beneficial for release to the general public. We are being watched, yes, and more specifically, our electronic storage is being monitored without consequences.

Despite countless attacks on all who have released such government information, the serious attention brought to the public regarding the National Security Administration's monitoring of online activity is undoubtedly a cue for the country to listen. Due to Rick Perry's HB 2268, Texas could officially set quite a high-profile example that the rest of the country is hoped to follow. It is important to remember, however, that the bill only covers e-mails, not one of the more ambitious goals of warranting protection of tracking cell phones. However it is by no means a courageous and monumental step in the direction citizens deserve.

For those who have not been aware, Government spying on our private electronic e-mails is nothing new. In the early ages of e-mail, messages were downloaded from a local host which did not keep them on the server for very long. In addition, due to this notion it was believed the e-mails were eventually abandoned and deemed unimportant. We currently live in a world where Google Mail offers 15 gigabytes of cloud storage, a concept I still cannot wrap my head around. More specifically it means that our messages are stored and kept. Forever. It is no wonder online tracking has only become more severe due to the indisputable amount of time we spend and rely on online source and storage. Despite the amount of online users who are aware or not of the severity of this ongoing privacy invasion, it is hoped Perry's bold decision will advance the United States Congress to quickly follow the lead.