II 114TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1595 To describe the authority under which Federal entities may use mobile aerialview devices to surveil, protect individual and collective privacy against warrantless governmental intrusion through the use of mobile aerialview devices, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 17, 2015 Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. HELLER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To describe the authority under which Federal entities may use mobile aerial-view devices to surveil, protect individual and collective privacy against warrantless governmental intrusion through the use of mobile aerial-view devices, and for other purposes. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Individuals smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS 5 From Mass Aerial Surveillance Act of 2015’’. 6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Jun 20, 2015 In this Act— Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1595.IS S1595 2 1 (1) the terms ‘‘mobile aerial-view device’’ and 2 ‘‘MAVD’’ mean any device that through flight or 3 aerial lift obtains a dynamic, aerial view of property, 4 persons or their effects, including an unmanned air- 5 craft (as defined in section 331 of the FAA Mod- 6 ernization and Reform Act of 2012 (49 U.S.C. 7 40101 note)); 8 (2) the term ‘‘law enforcement party’’ means a 9 person or entity authorized by law, or funded by the 10 Government of the United States, to investigate or 11 prosecute offenses against the United States; 12 (3) the term ‘‘Federal entity’’ means any per- 13 son or entity acting under the authority of, or fund- 14 ed in whole or in part by, the Government of the 15 United States, including a Federal law enforcement 16 party, but excluding State, tribal, or local govern- 17 ment agencies or departments; 18 smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS 19 (4) the term ‘‘non-Federal entity’’ means any person or entity that is not a Federal entity; 20 (5) the term ‘‘surveil’’ means to photograph, 21 record, or observe using a sensing device, regardless 22 of whether the photographs, observations, or record- 23 ings are stored, and excludes using a sensing device 24 for the purposes of testing or training operations of 25 MAVDs; •S 1595 IS VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Jun 20, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1595.IS S1595 3 1 (6)(A) the term ‘‘sensing device’’ means a de- 2 vice capable of remotely acquiring personal informa- 3 tion from its surroundings using any frequency of 4 the electromagnetic spectrum, or a sound detecting 5 system, or a system that detects chemicals in the at- 6 mosphere; and 7 (B) the term ‘‘sensing device’’ does not include 8 equipment whose sole function is to provide informa- 9 tion directly necessary for safe air navigation or op- 10 eration of a MAVD; 11 (7) the term ‘‘public lands’’ means lands owned 12 by the Government of the United States; and 13 (8) the term ‘‘national borders’’ refers to any 14 region no more than 25 miles of an external land 15 boundary of the United States. 16 SEC. 3. PROHIBITED USE OF MAVDS. 17 A Federal entity shall not use a MAVD to surveil 18 property, persons or their effects, or gather evidence or 19 other information pertaining to known or suspected crimi20 nal conduct, or conduct that is in violation of a statute 21 or regulation. 22 SEC. 4. EXCEPTIONS. smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS 23 (a) This Act does not prohibit any of the following: 24 25 (1) PATROL OF BORDERS.—The MAVD by a Federal entity to surveil national bor- •S 1595 IS VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Jun 20, 2015 use of a Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1595.IS S1595 4 1 ders to prevent or deter illegal entry of any persons 2 or illegal substances at the borders. 3 (2) EXIGENT 4 (A) The use of a MAVD by a Federal enti- 5 ty when exigent circumstances exist. For the 6 purposes 7 cumstances exist when the Federal entity pos- 8 sesses reasonable suspicion that under par- 9 ticular circumstances, swift action is nec- 10 of this paragraph, exigent 11 (i) to prevent imminent danger of 12 death or serious bodily harm to a specific 13 individual; 14 (ii) to counter an imminent risk of a 15 terrorist attack by a specific individual or 16 organization; (iii) to prevent imminent destruction 18 of evidence; or 19 (iv) to counter an imminent or actual 20 escape of a criminal or terrorist suspect. 21 (B) A Federal entity using a MAVD pur- 22 suant to subparagraph (A)(i) must maintain a 23 retrievable record of the facts giving rise to the 24 reasonable suspicion that an exigent cir- 25 cumstance existed. •S 1595 IS VerDate Sep 11 2014 cir- essary— 17 smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS CIRCUMSTANCES.— 00:50 Jun 20, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1595.IS S1595 5 1 2 (3) PUBLIC 3 (A) to discover, locate, observe, gather evi- 4 dence in connection to, or prevent forest fires; 5 (B) to monitor environmental, geologic, or 6 weather-related catastrophe or damage from 7 such an event; 8 (C) to research or survey for wildlife man- 9 agement, habitat preservation, or geologic, at- 10 mospheric, or environmental damage or condi- 11 tions; 12 (D) to survey for the assessment and eval- 13 uation of environmental, geologic or weather-re- 14 lated damage, erosion, flood, or contamination; 15 and (E) to survey public lands for illegal vege- 17 tation. 18 (4) CONSENT.—The use of a MAVD by a Fed- 19 eral entity for the purpose of acquiring information 20 about an individual, or about an individual’s prop- 21 erty or effects, if such individual has given written 22 consent to the use of a MAVD for such purposes. 23 (5) WARRANT.—A law enforcement party using 24 a MAVD, pursuant to, and in accordance with, a •S 1595 IS VerDate Sep 11 2014 use of a MAVD by a Federal entity— 16 smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS SAFETY AND RESEARCH.—The 00:50 Jun 20, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1595.IS S1595 6 1 Rule 41 warrant, to surveil specific property, per- 2 sons or their effects. 3 SEC. 5. BAN ON IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUALS. 4 (a) No Federal entity actor may make any intentional 5 effort to identify an individual from, or associate an indi6 vidual with, the information collected by operations au7 thorized by paragraphs (1) through (3) of subsection (a), 8 nor shall the collected information be disclosed to any enti9 ty except another Federal entity or State, tribal, or local 10 government agency or department, or political subdivision 11 thereof, that agrees to be bound by the restrictions in this 12 Act. 13 (b) The restrictions described in subsection (a) shall 14 not apply if there is probable cause that the information 15 collected is evidence of specific criminal activity. 16 SEC. 6. PROHIBITION ON USE OF EVIDENCE. 17 No evidence obtained or collected in violation of this 18 Act may be received as evidence against an individual in 19 any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any 20 court, grand jury, department, officer, agency, regulatory 21 body, legislative committee, or other authority of the 22 United States, a State, or a political subdivision thereof. smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS 23 SEC. 7. PROHIBITION ON SOLICITATION AND PURCHASE. 24 (a) A Federal entity shall not solicit to or award con- 25 tracts to any entity for such entity to surveil by MAVD •S 1595 IS VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Jun 20, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1595.IS S1595 7 1 for the Federal entity, unless the Federal entity has exist2 ing authority to surveil the particular property, persons 3 or their effects, of interest. 4 (b) A Federal entity shall not purchase any informa- 5 tion obtained from MAVD surveillance by a non-Federal 6 entity if such information contains personal information, 7 except pursuant to the express consent of all persons 8 whose personal information is to be sold. 9 SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 10 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preempt any 11 State law regarding the use of MAVDs exclusively within 12 the borders of that State. smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS Æ •S 1595 IS VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Jun 20, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1595.IS S1595