MCCRC written testimony supporting HB257, a bill by Del. David Moon that would require warrants to obtain historical location data gained from electronic sources (e.g. cell phones).
Original Title
2016 MCCRC testimony for HB257, warrants for historical data
MCCRC written testimony supporting HB257, a bill by Del. David Moon that would require warrants to obtain historical location data gained from electronic sources (e.g. cell phones).
MCCRC written testimony supporting HB257, a bill by Del. David Moon that would require warrants to obtain historical location data gained from electronic sources (e.g. cell phones).
February 16, 2016 Testimony to the Maryland House Judiciary Committee
in SUPPORT of HB257, "Criminal Procedure - Providing Electronic
Device Location Information - Historical Data Thomas Nephew, Member, Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition [address withheld] Speaking for the activist group "Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition" and for myself, I strongly support HB257. This bill addresses a major loophole in regulating electronic device surveillance by acknowledging in admirably succinct fashion -- that historical location data are just as much a part of a persons privacy under the Fourth Amendment as real-time data are. We have no doubt that historical data can be very useful to law enforcement indeed, that is precisely our point as well: such data can be highly revealing about the activities of a surveilled person. The question this bill answers is: to what purpose? The answer, under this bill, would be if a court finds that there is probable cause to believe that a misdemeanor or felony has been, is being, or will be committedby the subject, and that the location information will provide evidence about that or lead to the arrest of the person involved.
That is as it should be. Currently, historical location data can be collected
without warrant in Maryland, potentially allowing law enforcement agencies or bad actors within them to systematically evaluate the movements of surveilled persons for reasons that have nothing to do with criminal law enforcement: who were they seeing at night? What demonstrations did they appear to attend? Were they in an abortion clinic? Do they appear to have attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting? In one famous example of the power of this kind of data, German Green Party member Malte Spitz obtained 6 months of cell phone data obtained from telecom records, and gave permission to the newsweekly Die Zeit to map them. The result, viewable as a dot moving on a detailed map of Germany, was all but a daily, even hourly diary of his activities.i Even when there is cause to surveille a person, it is important to limit the scope of a warrant in a way supported by that cause, and not simply allow agencies to engage in fishing expeditions of the historical record. This bill would prevent misuse of historical location data and would thereby protect the Fourth Amendment rights of all of us. We urge that this committee pass it favorably.
Tell-all telephone, Zeit Online, 8/31/2009. Retrieved 2/16/2016 at