Yesterday, Shenna, Oami and I headed to Augusta for a unique meeting.
We're working on two privacy bills with Senator Roger Katz. One would require a warrant for the police to track your location via a GPS device or cell phone, while the other would require a warrant to access your records such as phone calls and content of text messages. We're excited about these bills, which will help create stronger privacy standards in the age of modern technology.
As yesterday's meeting illustrated, politics in Maine really can be collaborative, not combative.
Senator Katz and the ACLU of Maine have in common that we all like to build coalitions and form allies. If we sense that someone might be opposed to our ideas, we'd prefer to talk to them to see if there's any room for compromise.
Yesterday, we met with the lobbyists for cell phone service providers to talk about our privacy bills. In the productive meeting, a few concerns were raised, but we all left agreeing to work together on the legislation.
Things in Augusta are off to a collaborative and good start!
