Yesterday, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock signed a bill to require police to get a warrant in order to obtain electronic communication information from service providers in most cases. The new law will not only increase privacy protections in the state, it will also hinder one practical aspect of federal surveillance programs.
Rep. Daniel Zolnikov sponsored House Bill 148 (HB148). Under the new law, a government entity may only require electronic communication service providers to disclose the contents of electronic communications it stores, holds, or maintains pursuant to a warrant in most situations. The statute does not prohibit electronic communications providers from voluntarily disclosing information where authorized under law. It also allows police to obtain electronic communications content subject to a subpoena authorized under the laws of the state.
HB148 defines “contents” as “any information concerning the substance, purport, or meaning of a communication.”
Evidence obtained in violation of the law will be inadmissible in court, and cannot be used as the basis for obtaining an affidavit, court order, or a warrant.
After it passed both houses of the legislature by wide margins, Gov. Steve Bullock returned HB148 with proposed amendments. Before signing, the governor wanted to ensure both warrants and investigative subpoenas issued to authorize accessing electronic data would have to be based on probable cause. As originally passed, police could have accessed data with a subpoena issued at a lower evidentiary standard.
The House approved the governor’s amendments on April 10 by a 91-8 margin. The Senate followed suit, approving the new language 46-4. With Bullock’s signature. the law will go into effect on Oct. 1, 2017.
HB148 was one of three bills sponsored by Zolnikov relating to privacy that were passed into law. Last month, Bullock signed legislation that ban warrantless collection of data from an electronic device in most situations, and limit the use of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) in the state.
PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION
By making information obtained in violation of the law inadmissible in court, passage of HB148 would effectively stop one practical effect of NSA spying in Montana.
Reuters revealed the extent of such NSA data sharing with state and local law enforcement in an August 2013 article. According to documents obtained by the news agency, the NSA passes information to police through a formerly secret DEA unit known Special Operations Divisions and the cases “rarely involve national security issues.” Almost all of the information involves regular criminal investigations, not terror-related investigations.
After the SOD passes along this information, it then works with state and local law enforcement to “create” an investigation, working backward to obscure the origin of the evidence. For instance, the SOD might instruct local police to obtain a warrant to collect information they already have via information sharing. It creates the illusion that the investigation and prosecution proceeded in a constitutionally permissible way
In other words, not only does the NSA collect and store this data, using it to build profiles, the agency encourages state and local law enforcement to violate the Fourth Amendment by making use of this information in their day-to-day investigations.
This is “the most threatening situation to our constitutional republic since the Civil War,” Binney said.
WHAT’S NEXT
HB148 will go into full effect Oct. 1, 2017.
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Michael Maharrey [send him email] is the Communications Director for the Tenth Amendment Center, where this article first appeared. He proudly resides in the original home of the Principles of ’98 – Kentucky. See his blog archive here and his article archive here. He is the author of the book, Our Last Hope: Rediscovering the Lost Path to Liberty. You can visit his personal website at MichaelMaharrey.com and like him on Facebook HERE
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