The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have reached out to the California Law Revision Commission once again, requesting changes to the state’s practices regarding agencies’ ability to restrict telephone service.
The Law Revision Commission on Dec. 1 discussed a draft recommendation on Government Interruption of Communication Service, a study that proposes changes to Public Utilities Code Section 7908, the law that governs the extent to which state and local agencies can interfere in commercially provided phone communication.
The ACLU and EFF had provided input on the commission’s previous recommendation for Section 7908 issued in September. Taking those organizations' suggestions into account, the commission revised the draft for consideration at the December meeting.
Following the release of the amended recommendation, the ACLU and EFF submitted a letter to the commission on Nov. 21 suggesting further modification to the law.
According to the letter, the organizations’ main concern is an exception authorizing government agencies to utilize a search warrant to interrupt services.
“[This exception] undermines the clear intent of the law to safeguard the communications rights of Californians by requiring heightened judicial process for any knowing or intentional interruption of communications, above and beyond the privacy protections inherent in a search warrant,” the organizations writes. “In addition, since warrants are sought and obtained by California government entities in very large numbers and increasingly involve communication interruptions, the potential impact of this exception on the rights of Californians may be extensive.”
The letter touches on the topic of cell-site simulators, a device that essentially masks itself as a legitimate cell phone tower. Depending on the type of simulator, the technology is capable of intercepting voice calls and data usage.
Under the proposed exception, agencies would be permitted to use cell-site simulators to disrupt communication services legally by way of search warrant.
In response to the letter, the commission’s executive director Brian Hebert submitted a memorandum on the study exploring the ACLU’s and EFF’s argument that before a search warrant involving communication interference is approved, there should be a judicial review of the impairment of privacy rights and free expression rights. The organizations note that the current process focuses primarily on privacy rights.
At the memorandum's conclusion, staff is asked to determine whether the California law should include the exception for interruption, do away with it entirely or only eliminate the availability to apply it to cell-site simulator usage.
Techwire was unable to immediately reach the Law Revision Commission by press time for more comment and details about what was discussed during the Dec. 1 meeting.
