Panel approves giving police emergency access to cellphone locations

The House Commerce Committee passed a bill that would allow law enforcement agencies to access a cellphone user’s location information in an emergency.

The bill -- the Kelsey Smith Act, named after a Kansas teen who was murdered in 2007 -- would allow law enforcement officials to obtain tracking data if that person’s life or physical well-being is believed to be in danger. Currently, “that information remains locked up behind a bureaucracy at the wireless provider,” said Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR). The bill was introduced last year by Rep Kevin Yoder (R-KS) and ushered through the subcommittee by Chairman Walden.