Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Al Franken,...
Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Al Franken, D-Minn., said he will soon reintroduce legislation to clarify the legal rules that govern how companies use consumers’ geolocation data, said a news release Monday. Franken said “people have a fundamental right to privacy,…
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and tracking a consumer’s location and movements without permission violates that right,” in the news release. Franken’s comments follow his recent inquiry into a California-based retail data collection firm, called Euclid, that he said tracks consumers’ locations via their cellphones. “Euclid’s use of opt-out location tracking … simply doesn’t meet the standard of privacy Americans should be able to count on,” he said. “I'm pleased that privacy is a priority for Euclid, but their continued use of opt-out technology underscores the need for Congressional action to protect consumer location privacy.” Last year the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Franken’s Location Privacy Protection Act (S-1223) but the measure failed to reach the Senate floor for a vote. The news release said Franken plans to reintroduce the bill “in the coming months.” The bill would require companies to get users’ consent before obtaining and sharing location information from their mobile devices as well as encourage law enforcement training and create criminal penalties for GPS stalking.