Legislation that would require the federal government to obtain warrants prior to conducting aerial surveillance was introduced by a bipartisan pair of senators on Wednesday.
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., introduced the Protecting Individuals From Mass Aerial Surveillance Act, which they say would cut back on federal agencies' use of drones, cellphone tracking devices and other aerial technology, which often sweeps up data from thousands of innocent civilians.
"Americans' privacy rights shouldn't stop at the treetops," Wyden said in a statement. "Technology has made it possible to conduct round-the-clock aerial surveillance. The law needs to keep up. Clear rules for when and how the federal government can watch Americans from the sky will provide critical certainty for the government, and help the unmanned aircraft industry reach its potential as an economic powerhouse in Oregon and the United States."
The FBI has long been operating a covert fleet of low-flying civilian aircraft across the nation to extra-judicially collect cell phone data of U.S. citizens, the Associated Press reported earlier this month. The FBI operated at least 50 aircraft in 11 states over a 30-day period since late April. The planes were registered to fictitious shell companies to hide the bureau's involvement. A 2009 federal budget document mentioned at least 115 planes in the fleet, including 90 Cessna aircraft, and AP reports the practices go back decades.
The U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration have also come under fire recently for operating their own aerial surveillance fleets, The Wall Street Journal reported.
One particularly controversial surveillance device, used in planes by various agencies, is known as the "Stingray," which spoofs cellphone towers to collect identifying information from unsuspecting people's phones. The device can determine a person's location, intercept calls and text messages, and even send fake text messages to a device. The gadget often ends up collecting information from thousands of innocent people in the surrounding vicinity, according to Ars Technica.
"This legislation protects those inherent rights from being trampled by the government's intrusion from above and provides much needed clarity on what authority the federal government has related to aerial surveillance," Heller said in a statement.
After obtaining a warrant, if the federal government incidentally collects information from a bystander, the agency would not be allowed to identify that person, and any unlawfully collected incriminating information would be inadmissible in court, according to The Hill.
However, there are a few limits. The legislation only applies to federal agencies and there are exemptions to allow border patrol officers to conduct flights within a 25-mile area along the border.
"This applies to federal agencies. To the extent that a state entity would fly a drone, this bill wouldn't address it," said ACLU spokesperson Neema Singh Guliani, The Intercept reported.
"It is also important to note that there is a border carve-out exemption of 25 miles. For people who live within that 25-mile border zone, like Tucson [or] San Diego, these protections wouldn't apply."
