The Maryland Senate on Tuesday delayed action on a bill that would clamp down on when public buses and trains can record the private conversations of their passengers.
Sen. Robert A. Zirkin (D-Baltimore County), chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings, which unanimously voted for the measure to move to the Senate floor, said he wanted the committee to address an amendment offered by some of those who are concerned about costs associated with the bill.
The bill is likely to be considered by the Senate on Wednesday, he said.
“What [the Maryland Transit Administration] is doing is a mass surveillance,” Zirkin said.
“I find it outrageous,” he said. “I don’t want to overstate it, but this is the issue of our generation. As technology advances, it becomes easier and easier to encroach on people’s civil liberties.”
While Zirkin and other proponents argue that the technology, which has been in use since 2012, is an infringement on civil liberties, the bill’s opponents say the recordings are a necessary tool for homeland security.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Ovetta Wiggins over at the Washington Post