The state of California passed the “Leno bill” that would keep your private digital info, well, private from law enforcement in June, and governor Jerry Brown has signed it into law. The California Electronic Communications Privacy Act, co-authored by senator Mark Leno, will keep the government out of the Golden State’s residents against warrantless surveillance of their digital data, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Perhaps surprisingly, California’s law enforcement officials were among the bill’s biggest supporters. The ACLU says that “major” state law enforcement groups pulled opposition of it and that cops were apparently happy to support SB 178 because it’s “in the best interest of all citizens of California.”
In case you’re interested, the Leno bill was cosponsored by the likes of the San Diego Police Officers Association, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice and a bevy of tech giants like Facebook, Google and Microsoft. The Electronic Freedom Foundation says that this new warrant-requirement protects not only your emails, texts and geographic location not only on your gizmos, but for online services that store your data as well. Here’s to hoping that other states follow suit.
[Image credit: Getty Images/Moment Open]
Via: Electronic Freedom Foundation
Source: American Civil Liberties Union