Senator Al Franken (D-MN) wants to keep stalkers from using mobile apps to find their victims. Abusing smartphone apps to stalk and find people is a real privacy problem, and that's why Franken has put forward a bill on location privacy, the second time he's introduced that kind of legislation.
The bill, called the Location Privacy Protection Act of 2014, will start in the Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, which Franken chairs. If made into law, it would stop the creation of more stalking apps and require companies to get explicit permission before collecting location data and before sharing it with anyone else.
"Tens of millions of Americans have smartphones now," Franken said in a release. "And the companies that make the software on your phone, including apps, can track your location at any time. I believe that Americans have the right to control who can collect their location, and whether or not it can be given to third parties. But right now, companies – some legitimate, some not—are collecting your location and giving it to whomever they want."
More than 25,000 American adults are victims of GPS stalking every year according to the Department of Justice, and it was the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women who first brought the issue to Franken's attention and exactly the kind of people he wants to help.
"My commonsense bill will help a whole range of people—including victims of domestic violence and stalking victims," Franken said. "My bill would finally put an end to GPS stalking apps that allow abusers to secretly track their victims. It would also give consumers more control over their very sensitive location data."
Check out a video of Franken discussing his anti-stalking app efforts below.
