II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1595 

To describe the authority under which Federal entities may use mobile aerialview devices to surveil, protect individual and collective privacy against 

warrantless governmental intrusion through the use of mobile aerialview devices, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 17, 2015 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. HELLER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To describe the authority under which Federal entities may 

use mobile aerial-view devices to surveil, protect individual and collective privacy against warrantless governmental intrusion through the use of mobile aerial-view 

devices, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Individuals 

5 From Mass Aerial Surveillance Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 


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•S 1595 IS

1 (1) the terms ‘‘mobile aerial-view device’’ and 

2 ‘‘MAVD’’ mean any device that through flight or 

3 aerial lift obtains a dynamic, aerial view of property, 

4 persons or their effects, including an unmanned air5 craft (as defined in section 331 of the FAA Mod6 ernization and Reform Act of 2012 (49 U.S.C. 

7 40101 note)); 

8 (2) the term ‘‘law enforcement party’’ means a 

9 person or entity authorized by law, or funded by the 

10 Government of the United States, to investigate or 

11 prosecute offenses against the United States; 

12 (3) the term ‘‘Federal entity’’ means any per13 son or entity acting under the authority of, or fund14 ed in whole or in part by, the Government of the 

15 United States, including a Federal law enforcement 

16 party, but excluding State, tribal, or local govern17 ment agencies or departments; 

18 (4) the term ‘‘non-Federal entity’’ means any 

19 person or entity that is not a Federal entity; 

20 (5) the term ‘‘surveil’’ means to photograph, 

21 record, or observe using a sensing device, regardless 

22 of whether the photographs, observations, or record23 ings are stored, and excludes using a sensing device 

24 for the purposes of testing or training operations of 

25 MAVDs; 


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1 (6)(A) the term ‘‘sensing device’’ means a de2 vice capable of remotely acquiring personal informa3 tion from its surroundings using any frequency of 

4 the electromagnetic spectrum, or a sound detecting 

5 system, or a system that detects chemicals in the at6 mosphere; and 

7 (B) the term ‘‘sensing device’’ does not include 

8 equipment whose sole function is to provide informa9 tion directly necessary for safe air navigation or op10 eration of a MAVD; 

11 (7) the term ‘‘public lands’’ means lands owned 

12 by the Government of the United States; and 

13 (8) the term ‘‘national borders’’ refers to any 

14 region no more than 25 miles of an external land 

15 boundary of the United States. 

16 SEC. 3. PROHIBITED USE OF MAVDS. 

17 A Federal entity shall not use a MAVD to surveil 

18 property, persons or their effects, or gather evidence or 

19 other information pertaining to known or suspected crimi20 nal conduct, or conduct that is in violation of a statute 

21 or regulation. 

22 SEC. 4. EXCEPTIONS. 

23 (a) This Act does not prohibit any of the following: 

24 (1) PATROL OF BORDERS.—The use of a 

25 MAVD by a Federal entity to surveil national borVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Jun 20, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1595.IS S1595

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1 ders to prevent or deter illegal entry of any persons 

2 or illegal substances at the borders. 

3 (2) EXIGENT CIRCUMSTANCES.— 

4 (A) The use of a MAVD by a Federal enti5 ty when exigent circumstances exist. For the 

6 purposes of this paragraph, exigent cir7 cumstances exist when the Federal entity pos8 sesses reasonable suspicion that under par9 ticular circumstances, swift action is nec10 essary— 

11 (i) to prevent imminent danger of 

12 death or serious bodily harm to a specific 

13 individual; 

14 (ii) to counter an imminent risk of a 

15 terrorist attack by a specific individual or 

16 organization; 

17 (iii) to prevent imminent destruction 

18 of evidence; or 

19 (iv) to counter an imminent or actual 

20 escape of a criminal or terrorist suspect. 

21 (B) A Federal entity using a MAVD pur22 suant to subparagraph (A)(i) must maintain a 

23 retrievable record of the facts giving rise to the 

24 reasonable suspicion that an exigent cir25 cumstance existed. 


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1 (3) PUBLIC SAFETY AND RESEARCH.—The use 

2 of a MAVD by a Federal entity— 

3 (A) to discover, locate, observe, gather evi4 dence in connection to, or prevent forest fires; 

5 (B) to monitor environmental, geologic, or 

6 weather-related catastrophe or damage from 

7 such an event; 

8 (C) to research or survey for wildlife man9 agement, habitat preservation, or geologic, at10 mospheric, or environmental damage or condi11 tions; 

12 (D) to survey for the assessment and eval13 uation of environmental, geologic or weather-re14 lated damage, erosion, flood, or contamination; 

15 and 

16 (E) to survey public lands for illegal vege17 tation. 

18 (4) CONSENT.—The use of a MAVD by a Fed19 eral entity for the purpose of acquiring information 

20 about an individual, or about an individual’s prop21 erty or effects, if such individual has given written 

22 consent to the use of a MAVD for such purposes. 

23 (5) WARRANT.—A law enforcement party using 

24 a MAVD, pursuant to, and in accordance with, a 


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1 Rule 41 warrant, to surveil specific property, per2 sons or their effects. 

3 SEC. 5. BAN ON IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUALS. 

4 (a) No Federal entity actor may make any intentional 

5 effort to identify an individual from, or associate an indi6 vidual with, the information collected by operations au7 thorized by paragraphs (1) through (3) of subsection (a), 

8 nor shall the collected information be disclosed to any enti9 ty except another Federal entity or State, tribal, or local 

10 government agency or department, or political subdivision 

11 thereof, that agrees to be bound by the restrictions in this 

12 Act. 

13 (b) The restrictions described in subsection (a) shall 

14 not apply if there is probable cause that the information 

15 collected is evidence of specific criminal activity. 

16 SEC. 6. PROHIBITION ON USE OF EVIDENCE. 

17 No evidence obtained or collected in violation of this 

18 Act may be received as evidence against an individual in 

19 any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any 

20 court, grand jury, department, officer, agency, regulatory 

21 body, legislative committee, or other authority of the 

22 United States, a State, or a political subdivision thereof. 

23 SEC. 7. PROHIBITION ON SOLICITATION AND PURCHASE. 

24 (a) A Federal entity shall not solicit to or award con25 tracts to any entity for such entity to surveil by MAVD 


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1 for the Federal entity, unless the Federal entity has exist2 ing authority to surveil the particular property, persons 

3 or their effects, of interest. 

4 (b) A Federal entity shall not purchase any informa5 tion obtained from MAVD surveillance by a non-Federal 

6 entity if such information contains personal information, 

7 except pursuant to the express consent of all persons 

8 whose personal information is to be sold. 

9 SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

10 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preempt any 

11 State law regarding the use of MAVDs exclusively within 

12 the borders of that State. 

Æ 


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