Federal judge rules against Wyoming's 'data trespass' laws on First Amendment grounds

Star Tribune: A federal judge ruled Monday that Wyoming laws specifically outlawing trespassing to collect research data are unconstitutional.

The data trespass laws, passed in 2015 and amended under judicial criticism in 2016, came under criticism from a variety of activist groups that argued the statutes would chill activity undertaken by whistleblowers and citizen scientists. Data collectors feared they might accidentally cross private lands in the process of collecting data to submit to state and federal authorities and be at risk of prosecution.

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