Cell Phones & Drones Update

The news is bad, but the fight is not over.  In a very disappointing vote today, the Judiciary Committee voted down probable-cause warrant requirements for cell phone tracking in an 8 to 5 vote.  (You can read more about how intrusive cell phone tracking has become here.)  The good news is that a bi-partisan gang of five legislators stood up for privacy and the Constitution today.  We are grateful to the following leaders for defending our Fourth Amendment freedom from warrantless cell phone tracking:

Representative Jennifer DeChant (D-Bath)
Representative Stacey Guerin (R-Glenburn)
Representative Kim Monaghan Derrig (D-Cape Elizabeth)
Representative Representative Matt Moonen (D-Portland)
Representative Stephen Moriarty (D-Cumberland)

The other good news is that the Judiciary Committee doesn't get the final word on LD 415.  These five leaders have signed on to a "minority report" that endorses LD 415 to require a probable-cause warrant requirement for cell phone tracking.  Now LD 415 goes to the Senate floor for a general vote.  There's a great right/left coalition working on this bill, and I know that most Mainers care deeply about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  We need your help now more than ever to let your state legislators know that drones and cell phones shouldn't be exempt from the Fourth Amendment requirements of warrants based on probable cause.

You can contact your legislator here!

And if your legislator happens to be Representative DeChant, Representative Guerin, Representative Monaghan Derrig, Representative Moonen, or Representative Moriarty, give them a big thanks today.  They stood up for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and voted yes to privacy.

As for LD 236, the bill that would require a probable-cause warrant requirement for drone surveillance, it was tabled for two weeks.  We have two weeks to change hearts and minds in the Judiciary Committee to encourage them to support Fourth Amendment protections against massive domestic drone surveillance.  For a full list of Judiciary Committee members, click here.

The ACLU of Maine will be working to defend your privacy rights every step of the way.  Despite today's disappointing vote, we're not giving up, and we hope you won't either.