Surveillance Accountability Act

Key Points

• The bill would require the government to get a warrant before accessing your personal data held by third parties like banks, internet providers, or cloud storage companies. Even if the company agrees to hand over your data, the government would still need a warrant. A contract between you and a company could not be used to bypass the warrant requirement unless you explicitly waived it.
• Law enforcement would need a warrant to collect biometric data like facial recognition or track your car using automated license plate readers in public. Simply being in a public space or driving on a public road would not count as consent to being surveilled by these technologies.
• The bill creates a new right for people to sue federal employees who violate their Fourth Amendment rights. Winners of these lawsuits could also have their attorney's fees covered by the court, making it easier to hold officials accountable.
• The bill preserves several exceptions where warrants are not needed: plain-view observations, checking government-issued photo IDs during traffic stops, collecting publicly available information, searches with consent, and searches during emergency situations.
• The definition of 'search' is very broad, covering government surveillance of communications, social media, internet use, financial transactions, travel, geolocation, biometric identifiers, and behavioral data. This would dramatically expand what activities require a warrant compared to current practice.

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