Disruption States close stalking law gaps as abusers exploit modern tracking tech More than half of states already have laws restricting or prohibiting clandestine GPS tracking of individuals. Austin Jenkins 06:00 AM, Jun 22, 2026 An AirTag tracking device is introduced during a virtual event held to announce new Apple products, Tuesday, April 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) Lawmakers are modernizing anti-stalking and harassment laws to protect victims tracked electronically using remote technologies. A new law is on the books in Missouri, bills await governor approval in Illinois and New York, and one is advancing in New Jersey. The measures are the latest pushes in a multi-year effort to ensure that state laws written to combat in-person or telephone harassment remain effective in the digital age. “There are bad actors out there who know how to exploit tracking systems, and we’re highly concerned about electronic tracking devices and applications being used for stalking and other criminal acts,” New Jersey Assemblymember Carol Murphy said in a statement after her bill was passed by its first chamber last week. Cases abound of suspects alleged to have used technology to monitor and harass victims, including over the past year in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois and Nebraska. Some cases have resulted in murder. Devices like Bluetooth-enabled tags, vehicle trackers and location sharing technology help people find lost belongings, locate their car if it has been stolen, or keep tabs on loved ones. But in the wrong hands, these modern conveniences can be deployed to stalk and intimidate. Additionally, intimate partners or strangers can misuse social media, generative artificial intelligence and other technologies to harass someone without ever showing up at their front door. Read more: Unwanted tracking prohibitions sought in states Approximately 1 in 5 women and 1 in 10 men experience stalking in their lifetimes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than half of states already have laws restricting or prohibiting clandestine GPS tracking of individuals. A 2024 California law requires automakers to make it easier for domestic violence survivors to disable remote vehicle access features that their abusers can exploit. Read more: Carmakers must protect domestic violence victims from tracking under new Calif. law The New Jersey bill would make unauthorized electronic tracking of another person a fourth-degree felony punishable by up to 18 months and a fine of $10,000. There would be exceptions, including for parents keeping tabs on their child’s location, tracking at-risk adults and locating personal property. “Everyone deserves the right to move freely without fear of being secretly tracked,” said Democratic Assemblymember Annette Quijano, another prime sponsor. A Senate version of the bill is sponsored by Sens. Jon Bramnick, a Republican, and Joseph Cryan, a Democrat. The New York legislation, known as the Ceasing Repeated and Extremely Egregious Predatory (CREEP) Behavior Act, would create a new type of civil protection order that courts could grant to stalking or harassment victims. Currently, victims must wait for a criminal case to be filed to obtain a protection order, according to a sponsor’s bill memo. Victims can also seek protection from intimate partners or ex-spouses through family court or the state’s general Supreme Court. The bill sponsors, New York Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, both Democrats, say those paths are too narrow for victims of 21st century harassment, which may be perpetrated by an acquaintance or stranger. “In an era of cyberstalking, revenge porn, and deep fakes, our laws haven’t kept up — and survivors of abuse are getting left behind,” Gounardes and González-Rojas said in a joint statement after both chambers passed the bill. “By modernizing our laws for a world where harassment has gone digital, we ensure no New Yorker is left without protection,” they added. If enacted, New York would join 43 other states that already allow victims to seek protection orders through civil court, according to Gounardes’ office. Illinois lawmakers last month approved an update to the state’s domestic violence law, which adds electronic harassment, digital surveillance and the distribution of nonconsensual sexual deepfakes to the list of prohibited conduct. “Abuse doesn’t always look the same as it did decades ago,” Democratic Sen. Adriane Johnson, the bill’s lead sponsor, said in a March statement. “Technology has created new ways for abusers to stalk, harass and intimidate victims. Our laws must evolve to recognize these forms of harm and ensure survivors have the tools they need to stay safe.” The Missouri law, which Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe signed last week, establishes the crimes of cyberharassment and cyberstalking. These involve the use of digital technology or electronic communications “to cause reasonable fear, alarm, anxiety, undue stress, or terror” to another person either through repeated contact or through intimidation, tracking or following. The new law also bans the surreptitious placement of a tracking device on a vehicle, with certain exceptions, and defines “technological abuse conduct” to include using any type of technology to stalk or harass someone. A Nebraska bill that would have prohibited affixing a mobile tracking device to someone else’s property without permission died this year.Read More
