It’s Time to Ban Geofencing.

Friend,    Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Chatrie v. US, a case that will determine whether geofence warrants violate our constitutional right to privacy. With a normal warrant, police access data based on individualized probable cause. But with a geofence warrant, police can compel companies like Google to identify everyone in a certain location over a given period of time–meaning anyone can be caught in the geofence’s dragnet without being suspected of a crime. Under the guise of public safety, geofence warrants now account for a quarter of all search warrants issued in the US. Their widespread use enables a practice of unconstitutional surveillance with enormous magnitude–these warrants are eroding the right to privacy and normalizing the collection, weaponization, and sale of private information.   That’s why S.T.O.P. is advocating for The Reverse Location and Reverse Keyword Search Prohibition Act in New York State, which would ban geofence and reverse keyword search warrants.    Since the bill was first introduced in 2020, S.T.O.P. has fought to enshrine these protections for all New Yorkers. Now more than ever, as police collaborate with ICE and use these warrants for surveillance, we must fortify New Yorkers’ constitutional privacy protections and fight against the coalescence of data brokerage and law enforcement. Tell your New York State leaders to ban geofencing! Ahead of the Supreme Court’s decision, we’ve filed an amicus brief with other advocacy organizations. But we cannot rely on the Court. As former S.T.O.P. Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn wrote in 2023, “There is an urgent need for lawmakers to act, passing laws today rather than waiting years for the case law to catch up.”    To join us in the fight for privacy, call your New York State leaders with our advocacy script in hand, and demand they pass this bill. Geofence warrants are part of how the right to privacy is threatened by invasive digital tools––it’s time to defend our constitutional protections that these tools seek to erase. With gratitude,  Corinne Worthington  Advocacy & Community Engagement Manager  Share Tweet Forward Copyright © 2026 STOP, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: 1350 Ave of the Americas Fl 2, Box 1089 New York, NY 10019 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.