EDITORIAL: Trading privacy for safety?
Proposed Michigan safety bill would infringe on personal privacy
Michigan is poised to swap privacy for "peace of mind" with a proposed law that would allow police greater access to your cellphones.
Voting on House Bill 4006 was postponed Thursday after being unanimously passed by the Michigan House Criminal Justice Committee on Feb. 17. If signed into law, the bill would allow law enforcement to obtain a person's location through a cellphone from wireless carriers without a warrant. Lawmakers say it will only apply in emergency situations.
Granting police access to our personal information puts us on a slippery slope that should be avoided. The more the door to our privacy is pushed open by law enforcement, the harder it will be to close.
In 2007, Kansas police waited four days for a warrant to obtain the location of a missing person from her mobile service provider. By the time they found the woman, she had been raped and murdered.
The Kelsey Smith Act, named for the victim, was signed into law in Kansas in 2009. Since then, 15 other states have passed legislation similar to the Kelsey Smith Act. Michigan could be next.
The good intentions of this law are not in doubt. Its ramifications are.
The bill describes an emergency as a "situation that involves the imminent risk of death or serious physical harm to the user of a wireless telecommunications device." This definition leaves the decision of what constitutes an emergency largely to law enforcement officials seeking the exemption.
Fourteen years after Smith's death, police officers no longer face great obstacles when obtaining warrants during emergencies. According to Mount Pleasant Police Public Information Officer Jeff Browne, waiting four days for a warrant today would be highly unusual.
“Usually we get a warrant the same day,” Browne said. “In emergency situations, it’s even faster, maybe a few hours.”
Today, there is no shortage of ways to locate a person during an emergency situation. Many of our personal details are available through social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. A quick scan of recent activity can often pinpoint a person's last location as easily as a cellphone ping.
Further, wireless carriers already have the option to offer access to a device's location. According to Browne, some grant access to information upon official request from an officer while others require a warrant first.
More specific areas of the proposed law raise concerns as well.
The law maintains wireless carriers are not obligated to release any information other than location, and that officers cannot use obtained information for "personal gain." However, the punishment for officers who violate the law is no more than 93 days in jail and a fine of no more than $500.
These are weak deterrents that do not match the crime of violating a person's privacy.
Given the speed with which emergency warrants are obtained and the ability of wireless carriers to comply with police requests, HB 4006 seeks to solve a nonexistent problem.
It is up to us, as citizens, to fight further intrusion into our privacy.
