Who’s Tracking You?: A new bill introduced by lawmakers could combat ‘electronic device stalking’

State lawmakers said they now have a plan to fight a growing and disturbing trend.

It’s happening around the country and in the Miami Valley.

Apple AirTags are a handy tracking tool, but I-Team’s John Bedell reported in February that some people are abusing the devices.

“It’s so easy to take one of those things and drop it in a purse, or drop it in a backseat of a car or bumper and suddenly you’re tracking everything that’s going on,” State Representative Thomas Patton said.

A Wittenburg University student was the victim of this in January.

In a 911 call obtained by the I-Team, the student explains to the dispatcher that she detected an Apple AirTag near her car but she couldn’t find it.

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She told campus police a notification on her phone showed an unknown device had been tracking her all the way from the airport in Columbus to campus in Springfield — 50 miles.

“This is important for the safety of the folks out there that can be harmed by this,” Patton said.

In a statement center to News Center 7 Apple said in part:

“We take customer safety very seriously and are committed to AirTag’s privacy and security. AirTag is designed with a set of proactive features to discourage unwanted tracking.”

Currently, 19 states have specific laws against this, but Ohio is not one of them.

Patton is co co-sponsoring House Bill 672 with State Representative Emilia Sykes, a Democrat from Akron.

“This is the type of Bill that is easily bi-partisan because as I said, who doesn’t want to support a bill like this?” Patton said.

The Bill would make installing a tracking device or app on someone else’s property without their consent a misdemeanor charge of menacing by stalking in Ohio.

Which can be elevated to a felony if there are other aggravating factors.

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There are exceptions in the Bill, like parents could still use Bluetooth tracking to know where their kids are and law enforcement who have probable cause and a court order in an investigation can also use the tracking technology.

“We hope that that will also slow people from trying to utilize this form of stalking or tracking,” Patton said.

Right now the Bill is in the house committee.

Ohio lawmakers are only in session for another couple of weeks before their summer break.

They will be back in November.

Patton said the goal is to pass this bill to send it to the governor’s desk by the end of the year.

If that doesn’t happen, they’ll have to start over with this bill during the new legislative session in January.

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