WASHINGTON – If you've been remiss in cleaning out your e-mail inbox, here's an incentive: The federal government can read any e-mails that are more than six months old without a warrant.

Ambiguous language in a communications law passed in 1986 extends Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure only to electronic communications sent or received fewer than 180 days ago.

The language allows government officials to treat any e-mails, text messages or documents stored on remote servers as "abandoned" and therefore accessible using administrative subpoena power, a tactic that critics say circumvents due process.

Even deleted files still could be fair game as long as copies exist on a third-party server somewhere.

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 was written at a time when most people did not have e-mail accounts, said Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder of Kansas, who is leading efforts in the House of Representatives to update the law.

"The government is essentially using an arcane loophole to breach the privacy rights of Americans," he said.

Bipartisan legislation introduced earlier this month by Yoder and Rep. Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat, would require government agencies and law enforcement officials to obtain a search warrant based on probable cause.

Legislation to reform the law has foundered in Congress for years. But in the wake of revelations about the National Security Agency's spying on Americans, momentum is building for the E-mail Privacy Act.

"Privacy crosses political aisles, especially when we see the government expanding domestic spying in secret in so many different ways," said Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties group.

Major tech companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Apple and Google support the bill, too.

In hearings on Capitol Hill and in letters to members of Congress, government officials have warned that the bill would hamper civil and criminal investigations.