An Apple AirTag, which enables iPhone users to locate and track their valuables. A new Ohio law aims to block people from using them to unknowingly monitor another person's whereabouts. COLUMBUS, Ohio – As a private investigator, Melanie Torres isn’t afraid to get “down and dirty.”
“This allows us to develop a pattern, of which we can then go to where they are, perhaps undercover, surveillance, video footage, photos,” she said. of the Senate bill would only allow licensed PIs to use them to gather information regarding alleged criminal offenses, locating a fugitive from justice, finding lost or stolen property, or investigating worker’s compensation claims.Several PIs who testified at the hearing detailed different instances they might attach a tracking device to someone else’s car.
But Torres’ mention of running investigations for schools seemed to pique state lawmakers’ attention the most. However, the scope of this practice in Ohio is unclear. In 2011, an Ohio woman, drawing national headlines. Joan Bauer, who founded and owns Narrow Path Investigations, told lawmakers that the company only uses GPS trackers after “standard surveillance means” have failed and after “careful and thoughtful considerations.” She declined, in an interview, to identify any districts that may have hired her company.
House Majority Leader Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican, said the House bill as written gives PIs total authority with no safeguards on their use of GPS devices. In an email, he said the bills both need more discussion about who should be allowed to do what to people’s cars, even if they’re parked on public property.
Generally, the ACLU doesn’t prioritize lobbying on privacy legislation regarding private actors, like PIs, compared to state actors. But Gary Daniels, ACLU Ohio’s chief lobbyist, noted that in this case, there’s an open question of what civil rights people have when private actors seem to be acting on behalf of governments and deploying tactics like Torres described.