Location privacy is something that many in today’s connected world worry about, especially when it seems like every app you use wants information on your whereabouts. Many off these are perfectly understandable of course, such as mapping applications, but there are some that don’t need to be anywhere near your location data. Even worse, some companies decide to track your location without your approval.

According to a report by The Verge, we may be one step closer to putting those worries behind us. A location bill that Senator Al Franken has been pushing, called the Location Privacy Protection Act, has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. If turned into law, this bill would force companies to first gain approval from users before they are able to collect or share their location data and ban any applications that can secretly monitor that information.

It has to be said that many companies are already doing this voluntarily, as evidenced for example by the constant pop-up permissions you’ll notice by apps on iOS. Browsers are also starting to include the “Do Not Track” option in their settings, bypassing the need for you to monitor and delete unwanted cookies. Nevertheless, there will always be the occasional offender — and malicious intent or not, a law like this will only our peace of mind moving forward.

[via The Verge]