Rep. Jason Chaffetz, proposed a bill that would prohibit authorities from tracking citizens' locations using cellphones, GPS devices etc. without seeking a warrant first.
Freshman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, on Tuesday touted a bill to limit the government's and private companies' access to citizens' geospatial data.
The Geolocational Surveillance and Privacy Act would prohibit police and federal law enforcement from tracking citizens' location through cellphones, GPS devices and other electronic items without first getting a warrant, according to a draft version of the bill provided by Chaffetz's office.
He and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., plan to introduce the legislation next week.
"Law enforcement, in my mind, has overstepped its bounds and thrown out many of our Fourth Amendment rights," Chaffetz told an audience of technology entrepreneurs and open government advocates at the Personal Democracy Forum conference being held Tuesday at New York University in Manhattan.
"They have, right now, the ability to take a GPS device, put it on the bottom of your car and follow you without ever getting a search warrant," he continued. "I think the American public deserves and expects a degree of personal privacy. We in America don't work on a presumption of guilt."
The legislation that's introduced next week will likely be very similar to the draft legislation, a spokesman for Chaffetz said.
Proposed Bill: http://www.govexec.com/pdfs/060711jm1.pdf
Link:
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20110607_2043.php?oref=topnews