Jesse Scheckner
Legislation to crack down harder on people who use applications or Bluetooth-enabled devices like AirTags and SmartTags to commit dangerous crimes is now one vote from passing in the House.
Members of the House Judiciary Committee voted 21-0 for HB 663, which would hike penalties for using the tech to commit or facilitate murder, sexual assault, kidnapping and a slew of other crimes for which steeper punishments are often contemplated.
Currently, tech-assisted stalking is a second-degree misdemeanor. HB 663 would elevate it to a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
Parents or legal guardians who install or use tracking apps or devices on their children’s property are exempt.
The penalty increase in HB 663 is steeper than in its upper-chamber counterpart (SB 1168), which cleared its penultimate committee with uniform support Monday.
Fort Myers Rep. Tiffany Esposito filed the House bill, while St. Augustine Sen. Tom Leek, a fellow Republican, filed its Senate analog.
An online search for examples of people using tracking devices and apps for nefarious purposes produces troubling results, including one story of a Brevard County mother finding a tracking device in her son’s shoe after a 2023 Christmas parade and a 2022 case in which a police officer in Miami-Dade County was charged for using an AirTag to stalk his ex-girlfriend.
There have been at least two murders in which the culprit used an AirTag to follow their victims.
Leek described his and Esposito’s bills as adding an “aggravated installation” category to statutes.
“It’s critical that we establish a deterrence to those who would utilize these technologies in the furtherance of these crimes, which do real harm to our citizens,” Leek said.
Esposito’s bill flew through the committee hearing Wednesday. She kept her comments minimal.
