A Bill to Ban Geofence and Keyword Search Warrants in New York Gains Traction

Zellnor Myrie

Originally published in TechCrunch

"In dense, urban communities like the ones I represent in Brooklyn, hundreds or thousands of innocent people who merely live or walk near a crime scene could be ensnared by a geofence warrant that would turn over their private location data. And keyword search warrants would identify users who have searched for a specific term, name or location. Our bill would ban these types of warrants and protect New Yorkers’ privacy.”