PA House passes bill creating criminal offense for tracking device-based stalking

Lawmakers in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted Tuesday to pass legislation that would make stalking using an Apple AirTag or other electronic tracking devices a misdemeanor offense under the state’s stalking statute as policymakers look to stem the growing misuse of such items. 

The legislation, House Bill 407, which House lawmakers passed with a 201-2 vote, now goes to the state Senate for consideration. 

Following the 2021 introduction and launch of the Apple AirTag – a small electronic accessory that uses Bluetooth signals and Apple’s Find My network to allow customers to track essential items like cars, keys, bags and backpacks – cases have arisen where some will illegally use AirTags or similar devices to track others without their consent.

As a result, states are beginning to pass new laws to curb the illegal use of AirTags.

The bill’s prime sponsor, Democratic state Rep. Lindsay Powell, said on the House floor Tuesday that the bill will save lives. 

“As technology advances and becomes more readily available, our laws must do the same,” Powell said.

The proposal, if passed by the state Senate and signed into law by the governor, would make the unauthorized use of a tracking device, program or application to monitor another person’s location or movement a third-degree misdemeanor offense. 

House Bill 407 includes a number of exceptions that allow the devices to be used by law enforcement, parents, legal guardians and caregivers, among others.

The bill received wide bipartisan support, with all lawmakers in the chamber voting for the bill except for Republican state Reps. Barbara Gleim and Carl Walker Metzgar.

In December 2024, Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine signed a bill into law that prohibits the installation of an electronic tracking device on a person’s property without their consent. That followed action earlier in the year from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed legislation into law that prohibits both the installation and use of tracking devices and applications to track or monitor a person’s location when done without their consent. 

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 11 states have prohibitions on location tracking as part of state stalking laws, while nine states have laws prohibiting the installation of a location-tracking device on a person’s vehicle without their consent.

Apple AirTags and other electronic tracking devices have surfaced in multiple Pennsylvania stalking cases in 2025.

In February, 31-year-old Danish Ali of Indiana County was charged with stalking-related charges after he allegedly taped an Apple AirTag to the rear passenger-side wheel well of his ex-girlfriend’s vehicle, the Beaver County Times reported. 

Similarly, after an incident in late March, a Dallastown man was arrested in Lancaster County on stalking charges after allegedly using an Apple AirTag to stalk his victim by duct taping the electronic tracking device to the victim’s car, according to CBS 21 News.

The issue of AirTag-based stalking also resulted in a 2022 class action lawsuit alleging that Apple hasn’t done enough to prevent stalkers from using AirTag devices to stalk their victims, a case that a judge has allowed to proceed, according to The Associated Press. 

Apple and Google announced in May 2024 that they had worked together to create a new industry specification for Bluetooth tracking devices that makes it possible to alert users of iOS and Android devices when a location-tracking device is being used to track them without their consent.