The Iowa Homeland Security & Emergency Management Division wants to know your phone number. It’s for your own safety, of course.
The agency has proposed Senate Study Bill 1025, which would grant it the authority to demand the name, address, and telephone number for every subscriber to every E911 service provider in Iowa. That would include cellular phone service providers, and there would be no opt-out for subscribers.
Currently, Iowans can elect to have their information provided for use in mass notification and emergency messaging systems. Misuse of that information is merely a simple misdemeanor, according to current laws, and would be unaffected.
The bill states the information cannot be used for any other purpose than for mass notification and emergency messaging, and makes the information confidential. It does not, however, provide for any protective mechanism to ensure the information isn’t shared with those who may use it for other purposes.
So far, 19 lobbyist declarations have been made on SSB 1025. Almost all of them are undecided. Those who have declared support for the bill include the Iowa Homeland Security & Emergency Management Division and the Iowa State Association of Counties.
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