Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia hand delivered to the Governor’s office a petition signed by 10,435 individuals urging Governor McAuliffe to protect the privacy of Virginians by signing SB 965 (Petersen D Fairfax).
SB 965 would protect Virginians’ privacy by limiting surveillance without a warrant and ensuring that whatever surveillance data is routinely collected by license plate readers, unless it is relevant to an ongoing investigation, is deleted within seven days.
During the reconvened session, the General Assembly considered amendments to a handful of privacy and technology bills. As a result of that session, two bills that had been identical at the end of the regular session on February 28, SB 965 and HB 1673, and which limited the use of surveillance technology by law enforcement to instances where they could prove there was a need to ensure public safety or it was part of an ongoing investigation, went back to the Governor for reconsideration.
One bill, SB965 (Petersen D Fairfax) was returned to the Governor without amendment; HB 1673 (Anderson R Prince William) was returned to the Governor with amendments gutting the bill and restricting its application to law enforcement use of license plate readers (LPRs). SB 965 would simply affirm the scope and proper interpretation of the Government Data Collection and Dissemination Practices Act in the context of police use of surveillance technology.
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