“Sometimes it seems like technologies are advancing so fast that we can barely keep up,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Warren Limmer (R-Maple Grove). “Every innovation raises questions about how law enforcement can use these technologies to apprehend criminals while still guaranteeing that Minnesotans’ data privacy is protected properly. This bill aims to strike that crucial balance.”
The Minnesota Senate recently passed a bill that protects Minnesotans’ data privacy rights and requires law enforcement agencies to be more accountable when tracking and monitoring individuals of interest. The bill regulates the circumstances under which law enforcement agencies must obtain search warrants before using a drone or accessing electronic communication like emails, social media accounts, and cell phone applications.
The bill tackles Issues that have been the subject of discussions at the Capitol for years, and has garnered the support of a broad group of stakeholders, including law enforcement, the American Civil Liberties Union, data privacy advocates, prosecutors, judges, and government entities.
Use of drones: Law enforcement agencies are required to notify the public when they procure a drone and the public is allowed to comment on the agency’s intended plan for using it. To use the drone, the agency must obtain a search warrant, unless one of several documented exceptions apply:
- During or in the aftermath of an emergency situation that involves the risk of death or bodily harm to a person
- Over a public event where there is heightened risk to the safety of participants or bystanders
- To counter the risk of a terrorist attack by a specific individual or organization
- To prevent the loss of life and property in natural or man-made disasters and to facilitate post-recovery efforts
- To conduct a threat assessment
- To collect information over a public area if there is a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity
- For crash reconstruction purposes
- Over a public area for officer training or public relations purposes
- For a non-law-enforcement purpose at the request of a government entity
Search warrant requirements for emails: It is alarming that current law has allowed law enforcement agencies to rifle through one’s email inbox without a search warrant if the email is more than six months old. The Senate’s data privacy bill repeals that law and requires law enforcement to obtain a search warrant before accessing any email, regardless of the age of that email. The requirement has two specific exceptions: first, if law enforcement receives valid, authorized consent; and second, if there is an emergency involving danger to an individual’s life or physical safety.
Location tracking warrant clarifications: The bill clarifies confusion in a 2014 law regarding which type of search warrant should be used when law enforcement requests information on an electronic device, such as a cell phone. It further clarifies that the same location tracking warrant applies to an individual’s social media accounts and other cell phone applications, in response to Snapchat’s recent refusal to comply with one of these warrants signed by a judge and served on the company by law enforcement in Bemidji, MN.