ACLU: state legislators look to control law enforcement in wake of NSA leaks
State legislators are largely helpless to control the actions of the National Security Agency, so they are taking steps to limit the surveillance techniques of state and local law enforcement, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
ACLU said five states have already passed legislation and another 14 have proposed legislation this year to limit their state and local law enforcement agencies from engaging in some of the same invasive practices for which NSA has recently come under fire.
Most notably, the bills look to make law enforcement personnel obtain a probable-cause warrant before tracking an individual’s location during an investigation.
On its blog, ACLU is keeping track of all of the proposed legislation in a chart.
The organization said Montana and Maine were the first states to enact tracking laws shortly after ACLU’s nationwide public records request that led to the 2013 U.S. v. Jones decision in which law enforcement needs a search warrant to install a GPS device on a suspect’s car.
