House bill would require judge's OK for cell phone tracking

The Minnesota House unanimously passed a bill Friday that would require police to get a judge's approval before tracking the location of someone's cell phone.

The measure is important because current law allows police to track cell phones if they think it might be relevant to an investigation, and that power is too broad, said Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights.

"When you talk about tracking someone's cell phone, it can tell about who you are, who you associate with, who your physician is, where you go to church or synagogue or mosque," Atkins said. "It can tell who your friends are. It can tell whether you go to a family counselor, whether you have a defense lawyer."

The bill would also require police to notify people that they were being tracked after an investigation is finished, he added.

The House passed the measure 120-0. The Senate overwhelmingly passed a similar bill last week. The bills will need to be reworked into a final, compromise version in a conference committee.