Banning Warrantless Data: Utah Governor Signs Privacy Bill into Lawselfnews Post HB0128 passed the state Senate by a vote of 28-0 and the House by a vote of 71-2. It makes any electronic data obtained by law enforcement without a warrant inadmissible in a criminal proceeding. This includes data gathered by the NSA and shared through the super secret Special Operations Division (SOD) or fusion centers. The new law also stops Utah law enforcement from obtaining phone location data without a warrant. It reads, in part: While the Fourth amendment protects our effects from searches and seizure without a warrant, modern technology has outpaced its application. Police agencies around the country use tools and tactics that violate this constitutional guarantee in order to obtain the location or data of a cell phone or other digital device. HB128 statutorily makes clear that our digital property is part of our effects that are to only be obtained with judicial oversight, a particular suspicion of crime, and a warrant, he said. NSA collects, stores, and analyzes data on countless millions of people without a warrant, and without even the mere suspicion of criminal activity. It also tracks, along with other federal agencies like the FBI, the physical location of people through their cellphones. In late 2013, the Washington Post reported that NSA is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world. This includes location data on tens of millions of Americans each year without a warrant. Through fusion centers, state and local law enforcement act as information recipients from various federal departments under Information Sharing Environment (ISE). Federal partners for ISE include the Office of Director of National Intelligence, which is an umbrella covering 17 federal agencies and organizations, including the NSA. State and local law enforcement share data up the chain with the feds. Last fall, the public learned that the NSA expressly shares warrantless data with state and local law enforcement through a super-secret DEA unit known as the Special Operations Division (SOD). And, from a Reuters special report the public learned that most of this shared data has absolutely nothing to do with national security issues. Most of it involves routine criminal investigations. This data sharing shoves a dagger into the heart of the Fourth Amendment. HB0128 will now prevent state law enforcement from gathering cell phone location data and sharing it up the chain, and it will make information vacuumed up by the feds and shared down the chain inadmissible in court, stopping a practical effect of NSA spying. The legislation works hand-in-hand with the more well-known 4th Amendment Protection Act introduced by Rep. Marc Roberts this year. That legislation would ban material support to the NSAs new data center at Bluffdale. Supporters urge the rallying cry of no water = no NSA data center in support of the proposal. The bill was referred to interim study where it will have public hearings between now and December before further consideration in early 2015. HB128 takes effect on July 1, 2014. Source: The OffNow coalition is group of grassroots organizations and individuals spanning the political spectrum committed to stopping unconstitutional NSA spying through state and local activism. 