Rep. Livingstone Files Privacy Bill

Representative Livingstone filed a bill pertaining to privacy this session. The bill, called An Act to Establish Transparency in Government Surveillance (HD 3303), would regulate the use of video recording devices by the government throughout the Commonwealth.Current state law does not provide criteria for the use of video recording devices by government entities. While there are some regulations at the state and local level, government entities often have wide discretion to install recording devices without any public input, record and keep for long periods of time the data collected, and give broad access to that data. This situation has the potential to infringe on the civil liberties of the law-abiding citizens unnecessarily.The bill attempts to address this situation by providing the public more information about what is happening and create standard rules for the use of recording devices. If enacted, this bill would create a public process prior to the use of stationed recording devices as well as require that any governmental entity that wishes to use such devices have regulations approved by the Attorney General regarding data use and access. Government entities using recording devices would also have to publicly disclose that information regularly. The bill aims to promote transparency in government and the protection of the citizen's privacy.If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please contact us.