SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (March 7, 2025) – Yesterday, the Utah Senate gave final approval to a bill that would bar reverse key-word searches without a warrant in most cases, sending the legislation to the Governor’s desk.
This is another advance in Utah’s step-by-step approach to protect privacy and limit the surveillance state. In 2023, Utah enacted a law banning warrantless geofence location tracking, Rep. Ryan Wilcox and Sen. Todd Weiler filed House Bill 273 (HB273) to add any search for “reverse keyword information” to that warrant requirement.
Reverse-keyword information is defined as “information that identifies an unnamed individual, by name or other unique identifier, who electronically searched for a particular word, phrase, character string, or website, or visited a particular website through a link generated by an electronic search for a particular word, phrase, character string, or website.” For instance, police could seek a list of all the people who searched for the word “bomb” within a given area.
In effect, reverse-keyword searches are a massive fishing expedition, subjecting hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people to police scrutiny simply for conducting an internet search.
On March 6, the Senate passed HB273 by a 24-0 vote. It previously cleared the Senate by a 69-0 vote. The bill will now go to Gov. Spencer Cox’s desk for his consideration.
HB273 includes exceptions to the warrant requirement in a few prescribed situations, including to locate a 911 caller in an emergency as dictated by current statute and under “a judicially recognized exception to warrant requirements.”
The proposed law stipulates that in a reverse-keyword search warrant, “the court shall require that all electronic device data provided pursuant to the warrant be anonymized before the reverse-keyword information or reverse-location information is released to the law enforcement agency.”
Reverse keyword data would also be subject to the same retention, disclosure and destruction requirements as geofence location data.
IMPACT ON FEDERAL SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMS
The feds can share and tap into vast amounts of surveillance information gathered at the state and local level.
The feds provide grant money to local law enforcement agencies for a vast array of surveillance gear, including ALPRs, stingray devices, and drones, essentially encouraging and funding a giant nationwide surveillance net. It can then tap into the information via the Information Sharing Environment (ISE).
Fusion centers operate within the broader ISE. In effect, the network serves as a conduit for the sharing of information gathered by multiple agencies across the country, generally without a warrant. Known ISE partners include the Office of Director of National Intelligence which oversees 17 federal agencies and organizations, including the NSA.
By funding state and local surveillance programs, the feds can obtain warrantless data without having to expend the resources to collect it themselves. By restricting the collection of data at the state and local levels, legislation such as HB273 simultaneously limits the information available for the feds to access.
In a nutshell, without state and local cooperation, the feds have a much more difficult time gathering information. The passage of state laws and local ordinances banning and limiting reverse-keyword searches eliminates one avenue for gathering data. Simply put, data that doesn’t exist cannot be entered into federal databases.
WHAT’S NEXT
Gov. Spencer will have 20 days from the date the legislature adjourns to sign or veto HB273. If he takes no action, it will become law without his signature. The general session was scheduled to end March 7.
