Right To Security - Privacy
Bottom Line Up Front: Right to Security – Privacy is about protecting the personal sphere of life. Each Coloradan should be able to say, as long as I’m not harming others, the government and corporations should leave me alone. We will enshrine that ethic into Colorado law and practice. In a world of invasive tech, Colorado will be a privacy refuge – where liberty is not sacrificed for an illusion of security, but where wise measures provide both safety and privacy.
a. The Right to Security: We interpret this as the right of individuals to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects – basically privacy and safety from intrusive surveillance or searches. It stems from the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures and requires warrants based on probable cause. In a broader sense, “security – privacy” means your personal information, communications, and property should be safe from unwarranted government or even corporate intrusion. It also encompasses security of one’s home (no one breaking in, including the state without cause) and personal security (freedom from things like identity theft or data breaches due to negligence). Thomas Jefferson wrote, “the God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time.” Privacy is a facet of liberty – the freedom to live one’s life with a reasonable expectation of privacy.
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b. Modern Challenges: In 2025, technology has exploded the ways privacy can be violated: smartphones, smart home devices, mass data collection, facial recognition cameras, etc. Colorado addressed some issues with the Colorado Privacy Act (2021) giving consumers rights over data. We will vigorously enforce such laws – ensuring companies honor opt-outs and data deletion requests. But government must also be checked: law enforcement now has tools like cell site simulators (Stingrays), automated license plate readers, and can purchase data from brokers to bypass warrant requirements. We plan on ensuring our state and local agencies respect privacy.
1. Warrant Requirement and Digital Data: We will push legislation (if not already in place) that treats digital data with the same sanctity as physical papers. E.g., police should get a warrant to search your email or track your cell phone location over time. The Supreme Court’s Carpenter decision required warrants for cell location data – we will codify compliance. Also, if agencies want to use drones for surveillance over someone’s property, we’ll require either a warrant or strict usage limits.
2. Limit Surveillance Tech: We will demand transparency about any surveillance tech used by Colorado agencies. For instance, if Denver PD uses facial recognition, there must be policies preventing misuse (like no scanning crowds without cause, and certainly not targeting individuals based on First Amendment activities). If not outright banning facial recognition, we would at least require probable cause to run a face scan on a suspect photo.
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3. Same for other AI surveillance: always a human review and cause needed. We don’t want a Chinese-style panopticon. Privacy is essential to a free society – people behave differently if they think they’re constantly watched. We support legislation for a “privacy bill of rights” for Coloradans, maybe an amendment, that enumerates these protections.
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4. Cybersecurity: Part of security is protecting citizens’ data from breaches. State government holds a lot of personal info (DMV records, health info for those on state programs, tax records). We will invest in top-notch cybersecurity for state systems to prevent hacks. For private sector, we’ll encourage or require reasonable data security measures, especially for sensitive info. Companies that negligently expose consumer data should face consequences or mandated fixes (Colorado has laws requiring notification of breaches; we might strengthen them to include some minimal security standards). Also, as mentioned, identity theft is rampant – we’ll support law enforcement units dedicated to that and resources to help victims recover (restoring credit, etc.).
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5. Medical and Bodily Privacy: In an era of vaccine mandates and health data tracking, we defend privacy. We champion that medical decisions (like vaccination) are private matters – see Vaccine Choice – and one’s medical records should not be accessible to others without consent. Colorado should carefully implement any immunization or health databases: opt-outs for individuals, strong protections on who can query it. Similarly, genetic privacy (like law enforcement using genealogy databases) needs oversight. We support catching criminals via DNA, but we also support requiring a warrant or consent to search private genealogy databases.
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6. Physical Home Privacy: The sanctity of the home is paramount. We will ensure SWAT raids or no-knock entries are exceedingly rare (only in true life-threatening, hostage-type scenarios). We’ve seen tragic outcomes from wrong-house raids. We’ll push for requiring either officer body cams or similar accountability in any forced entry, and preference for de-escalation (can’t we arrest the suspect when they’re leaving home instead of kicking doors at 3am?). We want families to feel secure that the only knock on their door will be one announced “police, warrant” and only with proper cause. Asset forfeiture reform (already discussed) helps ensure property isn’t taken arbitrarily.
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7. Workplace and School Privacy: People shouldn’t have to surrender all privacy to have a job or go to school. We’ll bar employers (including government) from demanding social media passwords or doing intrusive surveillance of employees off hours. Students shouldn’t be forced to install spyware apps on personal devices for school exams – we’ll draw lines on that. And any data collected on students (from school-issue laptops, etc.) must be strictly limited to educational purposes, not snooping on them at home.
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8. Right to Encrypt: We uphold the right of citizens to use encryption to secure their communications and data. We would oppose any state attempt to ban or weaken encryption (no backdoors mandates – those only make everyone less secure). Law enforcement might not like it, but the overall security and privacy of society is enhanced when encryption is robust (we have other tools for law enforcement that don’t require undermining everyone’s security).
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9. Information Transparency: Privacy also means knowing who has your info and what they’re doing. We’ll implement the state privacy act robustly: individuals can request their data from companies, correct or delete it. And perhaps extend similar principles to government-held data: a freedom of information style ability for you to see what data the state has on you, and correct errors. The state should not be running secret lists (like terror watchlists) without due process – if any such list exists impacting Coloradans, we want a way for people to challenge wrongful inclusion. We couple privacy with “security” because we believe when individuals’ privacy is respected, their personal security and liberty flourish. Also, by reducing unnecessary data collection, we reduce targets for hackers (if we don’t collect or store it, it can’t be stolen).
c. Community Safety vs Privacy: We acknowledge government often seeks more surveillance in name of safety. We stand firm: safety can and must be achieved without gutting privacy. We look to strategies like community policing rather than blanket surveillance. We prefer targeted investigations with warrants rather than dragnet data trawling.