The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut applauded the state Senate’s passage of a bill that would require law enforcement to obtain warrants in order to gather information such as texts, Facebook messages and geo-locational data from cell phone providers.
The ACLU of Connecticut voiced concerns that currently lax standards violated Fourth Amendment privacy rights. The existing rules have enabled police to track people’s cell phones 14,000 times and the ACLU of Connecticut has not been able to identify a single instance in which a request has been denied.
David McGuire, Legislative and Policy Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, said, “Today’s vote is a win for privacy rights in Connecticut. We anticipate that this will lead to an added layer of protection for everyone’s texts, email messages, private Facebook posts and other personal information that is available on most of our cell phones.”
The vote on Senate Bill 1092 had bipartisan support with 29 in favor and five opposed. The bill still needs approval from the state House of Representatives.
Technological advances in cellular communication have made it possible for law enforcement agents to obtain geo-locational information about the vast majority of Americans with great precision and in real time. When they are powered on, cell phones constantly send detailed location data to the cellular carrier. Even phones without a GPS function leave a trail of contact with cell phone towers. Like GPS technology, this provides law enforcement agents with a powerful and inexpensive method of tracking individuals over an extended period of time and over an unlimited expanse of space.
May 14, 2015
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