Warrantless cell-phone spying legislation has stalled in the Michigan House. MLive reports that House Bill 4006 has been pulled from the agenda for the second time in as many weeks. In a flash of rationality, Gideon D’Assandro, a spokesperson for the Republican majority, said new questions about jurisdiction and proposed immunity for wireless providers have popped up. D’Assandro told MLive, “… There’s still questions.”
The legislation, sponsored by Republican Rep. Kurt Heise of Plymouth Township, has prompted push back from some conservative lawmakers and privacy proponents in the state Legislature after advancing out of committee last month. “It’s been a heated discussion, a passionate discussion, just about the civil liberty issues that are all wrapped up in this,” said Rep. Cindy Gamrat, R-Plainwell.
My concern is … we’re setting precedent authorizing government to access our technology devices, such as phones or computers or GPS in cars. Where do you end up drawing the line?
State Rep. Todd Courser, R-Lapeer, said he understands the value that location information could offer in some emergencies but made clear that he could not vote for the bill in its current form. He told MLive,
I think we also need to make sure we’re giving people the constitutional protections that are supposed to be afforded by our founding fathers.
In typical goobermental double-speak, Heise, the sponsor of the bill to legalize NSA-style phone snooping in Michigan told MLive that allowing warrantless access to private citizens’ phones could actually strengthen civil liberty protections. Heise even told MLive he does not think that notifications for cell phone owners who the State of Michigan snooped is necessary.
Warrant-less access to private citizens phones could actually strengthen civil liberty protections
Of course, law enforcement groups and Verizon (VZ) indicated support for the proposal to gain even more access to citizens’ private information. As now written, the snooping does not require a warrant. All a police officer needs to access a private citizen’s phone records, is to have a note signed by a supervisor.
rb-
Get hold of your House Rep (contact info here) and tell them to keep NSA-style warrant-less phone spying out of Michigan and vote this bill down.
Stop the slide down the slippery slope, despite what the Koch Bros. and ALEC want.
Of course, the cops can just call their friends at Homeland Security and get the data and end-run the Constitution.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.