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California authorities need a warrant to probe your digital life
The state of California passed the "Leno bill" that would keep your private digital info, well, private from law enforcement in June. Now, governor Jerry Brown has signed it into law. The California Electronic Communications Privacy Act, co-authored by senator Mark Leno, will protect 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."
California senate wants warrants to be required for phone searches
The California State Senate has passed the "Leno bill," which aims to protect residents' digital privacy. Officially called Senate Bill 178, it would require authorities to secure a warrant whenever they want to search phones, laptops or other devices in California. That would effectively keep residents' text messages, emails, cloud storage, social media accounts and GPS data private unless a court issues a wiretap order, barring a few exceptions. The bill, authored by Sen. Mark Leno and Sen. Joel Anderson, has a solid list of supporters, including the EFF and major tech companies, such as Apple, Facebook, Google and Twitter.
