U.S. lawmakers have reintroduced bills to limit warrantless access by the government to cell phone-generated geolocation information. The Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act aims to draw a line for when law enforcement can acquire your location information, generated from devices like smartphones, GPS units and WiFi-equipped laptops.
In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that attaching a GPS tracking device to a vehicle requires a warrant, but did not address other digital location tracking, including through cell phones, OnStar systems and consumer electronics devices, bill sponsors said in an announcement. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) sponsored the measure.
Chaffetz introduced another measure, the Cell Location Privacy Act of 2017, which requires local, state and federal law enforcement to get a warrant to use cell-site simulators and imposes fines or prison terms for violations. Also called “Stingrays,” cell-site simulators mimic a tower to track your cell phone location. They can force phones within a certain distance to switch from the real cell tower to the simulated one, allowing uses to intercept calls and messages received or sent by the target, and track the individual’s location.
The issue is the device doesn’t work on the target’s phone, but affects all the phones within the area. “Outdated laws shouldn’t be an excuse for open season on tracking Americans, and owning a smartphone or fitness tracker shouldn’t give the government a blank check to track your movements,” said Wyden.
February 20, 2017
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