Sen. Franken Brings Historic Legislation to Protect Privacy, Prevent Stalking before Judiciary Committee
Bill deemed critical by anti-domestic violence organizations
Tomorrow, U.S. Sen. Al Franken will bring his historic legislation to protect consumers' privacy and prevent stalking before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for debate. The hearing will begin at 10:00 am EST in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 226.
Sen. Franken's Location Privacy Protection Act has been hailed by Minnesota-based and national domestic violence groups as critical to closing loopholes that allow stalking applications to exist on women's and girls' smartphones and send their location information without their knowledge.
Sen. Franken's bill fixes this problem by requiring companies to get customers' permission before collecting their location data or sharing it with third parties. The bill also contains targeted provisions to protect against stalking apps.
"Every smart phone out there is a personal tracking device that transmits our location," said Sen. Franken."What most people don't realize is that the law allows companies to collect and disclose our location information without our knowledge or consent - and that a lot of companies are doing just that. What's worse, bad actors are using these same loopholes to develop and market stalking apps to the public. I've heard harrowing accounts from Minnesota women about their experiences with GPS stalking. My legislation protects people's privacy and will help put an end to GPS stalking by requiring all smartphone, app, and wireless companies to get consumers' consent before collecting or sharing their location, and by creating special protections against stalking apps."
Sen. Franken's historic Location Privacy Protection Act will be the first step forward to protecting location privacy since 1999. The bill will close loopholes in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 that explicitly allow smartphone, app, and wireless companies offering Internet service to give their customers' location information to non-governmental third parties-without their customers' permission.
Sen. Franken's bill fixes this law by:
- Requiring companies to get a customer's permission before collecting his or her location data or sharing it with non-governmental third parties;
- Raising awareness and helping investigations of GPS stalking; and
- Making it a crime to intentionally operate a stalking application to facilitate stalking.
Sen. Franken's bill is cosponsored by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).
The bill has the support of a coalition of consumer privacy and anti-domestic violence groups, including the Center for Democracy & Technology, Consumer Action, Consumers Union, the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women, the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the National Center for Victims of Crime, the National Consumers League, the National Network to End Domestic Violence, the National Women's Law Center, the Online Trust Alliance, Break the Cycle, Casa de Esperanza: National Latin@ Network for Healthy, Families and Communities, Futures Without Violence (formerly Family Violence Prevention Fund), Jewish Women International, National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National Council of Jewish Women, National Resource Center on, Domestic Violence, Sisters of Color Ending Sexual Assault, and YWCA USA.
Sen. Franken originally introduced the Location Privacy Protection Act in 2011. You can read more about the bill here.
