Mass Extraction: The Widespread Power of U.S. Law Enforcement to Search Mobile Phones

upturn.org ^ | October 2020 | Logan Koepke, et al

[krny9]

Every day, law enforcement agencies across the country search thousands of cellphones, typically incident to arrest. To search phones, law enforcement agencies use mobile device forensic tools (MDFTs), a powerful technology that allows police to extract a full copy of data from a cellphone — all emails, texts, photos, location, app data, and more — which can then be programmatically searched. As one expert puts it, with the amount of sensitive information stored on smartphones today, the tools provide a “window into the soul.”

This report documents the widespread adoption of MDFTs by law enforcement in the United States. Based on 110 public records requests to state and local law enforcement agencies across the country, our research documents more than 2,000 agencies that have purchased these tools, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. We found that state and local law enforcement agencies have performed hundreds of thousands of cellphone extractions since 2015, often without a warrant. To our knowledge, this is the first time that such records have been widely disclosed.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I have a semi-smart phone that I use to keep track of inventory.

If they are interested in the fact I just snagged a third printing Nancy Drew volume eight then they can pull that.

But if they are interested in who I bought it from or who I sold it to they are going to have to get a warrant for my records. All of that is kept on a air gap computer.