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Privacy Versus Public Safety

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Since 9/11, police have been given greater freedom to spy on citizens and to limit civil liberties, presumably to assure public safety, but the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia thinks they’ve gone too far and is fighting back with several bills in Richmond. 

Sitting outside the General Assembly between committee hearings this week, the executive director of Virginia’s Civil Liberties Union lamented what she sees as a dangerous loss of privacy in this country. 

“A lot of Virginians have woken up to the fact that the government  currently knows more about us than we know about the government.”

Claire Gastanaga says, for example, VDOT may be watching you.

“The Virginia Department of Transportation is tracking people’s cell phones in Northern Virginia – gathering data to map traffic patterns, but while they’re doing that, they have a picture of the movements of every person who has a cell phone that they’re tracking.  Well what’s wrong with that?  How much could they really tell about me by where my car is?  Well they can tell where you go to church and what organizations you hang out with and whether you go to the psychiatrist and all kinds of things that you may not want the government to know.”

That’s why her organization is backing a move to expand our constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures– putting that proposal on the ballot so Virginians can decide.

“We have a 21st century Fourth Amendment, and that is a piece of legislation that’s meant to send to the voters the question whether our Virginia constitution should be amended to protect your papers and your personal information – not just your person and your property, and also should be amended to make sure that if I give my data to Google, I’m not saying, ‘Yes, the local police can have it.’”

The ACLU also wants to limit police surveillance from the air.

“They shouldn’t be able to put a drone over your home or your farm without a warrant.  We’re getting push back on our proposal to limit sting rays that mimic cell phone towers.  There’s been an effort to make sure that if police are going to use those for real time tracking of your cell phone that they have a warrant.”

And Gastanaga says police should get a warrant before using automatic license plate readers.

“We want to be sure that they’re being used for a specific purpose to find a specific car for a specific reason.”

She’ll also be tracking Senate Bill 773 – a measure that would make it easier to keep teenagers in psychiatric facilities if they appear to have a mental illness. 

Sandy Hausman is Radio IQ's Charlottesville Bureau Chief
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