Police in Illinois would have better guidance about the use of cell tower simulators – or stingrays – and the responsible collection of cell data under legislation that unanimously passed in the Illinois Senate today.
Senate Bill 2343, sponsored by Senator Daniel Biss (D-Evanston), would regulate the police use of cell tower simulators for surveillance. These simulators, more commonly known as stingray devices, act as cell phone towers and trick phones in a particular area into thinking they are connecting to a phone tower operated by a service provider.
Police can use the fake tower to determine someone’s location, the serial numbers of phones in the area and more. In addition to collecting data on targeted individuals, police can collect data on dozens or hundreds of other innocent people in the process as well.
“As advances in technology enable police to more efficiently investigate and solve crimes, it’s important that we help them to know they are following state law and the parameters of the Constitution,” Biss said.
“Additionally, we must adopt measures that help to ensure privacy for citizens who have done nothing wrong but may find that data from their cell phones was collected and stored by law enforcement for no legitimate legal reason.”
Senate Bill 2343 now goes to the House for consideration.
Thank you Senator Biss
The more I read about Senator Biss's actions, the more I respect him. Protecting the privacy and liberty of private citizens is one of the most important issues of our time, and he seems to be on the right side of this issue time and again. This is not a partisan issue, this is a constitutional issue. Thank you Senator Biss – I'm proud to have you fighting for us in Springfield.
This is not a partisan issue,
I couldn’t agree more. I may not agree with Sen. Biss on everything, but he has done a lot of good work, including this bill. It is nice to have legislators that legislate in the interests of their constituents.