A hurriedly passed bill providing for the easing of wiretapping laws and allowing ordinary Pennsylvanians to wiretap each other is the subject of growing criticism around the state.
Among other provisions, HB 2400 would allow “one-party consent” recordings of phone conversations in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania is currently a so-called “two-party consent” state, meaning that both parties of a phone conversation must be aware when a conversation is recorded.
The bill was passed by the General Assembly on June 13, and now moves onto the state senate and, from there, Gov. Corbett’s desk.
If passed, critics complain that any citizen would be allowed to wiretap the conversation of another.
State Rep. Mark Cohen (D-Philadelphia) says that HB 2400 would make “Pennsylvania the number one citizen wiretapping state in America, giving everybody the right to use spy ware to wiretap anyone else who may have committed a crime in the past or who may commit a crime in the future. This is likely the most radical bill ever introduced in PA.”
The bill also received criticism from the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union.
“This bill moves Pennsylvania closer to a surveillance state,” complains Andy Hoover, legislative director of the PA ACLU. “It encourages regular citizens to spy on each other.
“We are inching closer to a surveillance state,” adds Reggie Shuford, executive director of the Pennsylvania ACLU.
“It is disappointing that the state House rushed into this action,” Shuford says. “This bill makes at least 13 changes to a highly technical section of law and was introduced less than three weeks ago.
“This legislation was jammed through in record time with no hearing and little serious consideration. This isn’t how government is supposed to work.”
“Two-party consent is a key provision in law. It keeps Pennsylvanians from worrying that their every private word could be recorded by anyone at any time,” ACLU legislative director Hoover says. “But HB 2400 includes de facto repeal of two-party consent.
“The legislation creates an Orwellian society in which neighbors are encouraged to spy on neighbors.”
House Bill 2400 amends the state’s Wiretap Act to allow the recording of private conversations without a person’s consent or knowledge, to allow the government to intercept incoming messages to a mobile phone it has seized without court approval, and to allow the government to gather location data of mobile phones, the ACLU complains.
In fact, Cohen complains, the bill would make Pennsylvania a “no-party consent” state
“This bill is Big Brother is Watching You on steroids,” Rep. Cohen complains. “This bill makes Pennsylvania a no-party state if a citizen does the wiretapping. Citizen A can say he believes that Citizen B may commit a crime in the future, so he spends a $100 … for spy ware and he installs it on Citizen B’s cell phone when he isn’t looking. He then gets a transcript of Citizen B talking to Citizen C, and Citizen D talking at his home to Citizen E in Citizen B’s presence. He then thinks Citizen D may be doing something wrong, so he tells his local police chief, the professional board of Citizen D’s profession, the IRS, and Citizen D’s spouse what he has learned, making Citizen D spend a lot of time defending himself for remarks he thought were private.”
Dauphin County DA Ed Marsico, who heads the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, supports the bill. It was sponsored in the General Assembly by State Rep. Ron Marsico (R-Harrisburg), a relative of DA Marsico’s.
HB2400 passed with 52 House members voting against it. State Rep. Cohen says some of the members voting for the bill acknowledge its provisions “are bad,” but hope the state senate will fix it.
http://www.aclupa.org/pressroom/acluofpennsylvaniadisappoi.htm
