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Justices split on whether police can search cellphones during arrests
LAT ^ | 04/29/2014 | David Savage

Posted on 04/30/2014 8:10:20 AM PDT by BuckeyeTexan

WASHINGTON — Confronting a right-to-privacy question in the new world of smartphones, the Supreme Court justices sounded closely split Tuesday on whether police officers should be free to search through the phone of any person who is arrested.

Justice Elena Kagan, the newest and youngest member of the high court, urged her colleagues to insist on protecting privacy.

“People carry their entire lives on their cellphone,” she said during the argument involving a San Diego case. If there are no limits, a police officer could stop a motorist for not having seat belt buckled and download a huge amount of information, looking for some evidence of wrongdoing, she warned.

Such a search could include “every single email, all their bank records, all their medical records,” she said, as well as GPS data that would show everywhere they had traveled recently.

But Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. pressed the opposite view. Police who make an arrest have always been permitted to check a wallet, a billfold or a purse, and that might include personal photos.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 4a; cellphones; scotus; searchwarrant
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1 posted on 04/30/2014 8:10:20 AM PDT by BuckeyeTexan
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To: Lurking Libertarian; Perdogg; JDW11235; Clairity; Spacetrucker; Art in Idaho; GregNH; Salvation; ...

FReepmail me to subscribe to or unsubscribe from the SCOTUS ping list.

2 posted on 04/30/2014 8:10:55 AM PDT by BuckeyeTexan (There are those that break and bend. I'm the other kind. ~Steve Earle)
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To: BuckeyeTexan

That’s what the locking function is for. Make them get a court order and then defy it.


3 posted on 04/30/2014 8:11:11 AM PDT by Gaffer (Comprehensive Immigration Reform is just another name for Comprehensive Capitulation)
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To: BuckeyeTexan

And if the phone is encrypted?


4 posted on 04/30/2014 8:14:44 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government." --Tacitus)
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To: BuckeyeTexan
Down 3 a given.

Breyer, Thomas, Alito almost always side with .gov searches.

5 posted on 04/30/2014 8:18:11 AM PDT by Theoria (End Socialism : No more GOP and Dem candidates)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum; Gaffer

Exactly. You have the right to remain silent.

They ain’t gettin my password. :)


6 posted on 04/30/2014 8:19:11 AM PDT by BuckeyeTexan (There are those that break and bend. I'm the other kind. ~Steve Earle)
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To: BuckeyeTexan

If they want something, they can go ask the NSA who already has everything. Just need to fill out the interagency paperwork, that’s all.


7 posted on 04/30/2014 8:21:23 AM PDT by Gaffer (Comprehensive Immigration Reform is just another name for Comprehensive Capitulation)
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To: BuckeyeTexan

Correct my only words will be “I would like my attorney please”.


8 posted on 04/30/2014 8:21:24 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: Resolute Conservative

impeach obama


9 posted on 04/30/2014 8:26:39 AM PDT by maddogtiger
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To: Gaffer
That’s what the locking function is for. Make them get a court order and then defy it.

There are fairly simple ways of cracking those passcodes. It wouldn't surprise me if one or more phones were soon marketed with a more secure locking system, as well as a destructive reformat "panic" code option.

10 posted on 04/30/2014 8:37:33 AM PDT by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
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To: BuckeyeTexan

If the police believe that there is evidence on my phone, they should arrest me, hold my phone, and then get a search warrant to search it, just like they (theoretically) need to search my home. No, I will not provide the pass code. The fact that they cannot get into my phone is not my problem.


11 posted on 04/30/2014 8:40:53 AM PDT by Pecos (The Chicago Way: Kill the Constitution, one step at a time.)
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To: Charles Martel

Actually, I don’t think it is as simply as you imply. My daughter had an iPhone here on a weekend and her little girl got hold of it and started punching buttons and accidentally locked it.

After a couple of hours on the phone with Apple support it basically ended up that if the phone were completely erased and reset, it may be possible to get into it, and that wasn’t a sure thing. The damned thing only gave you a very few tries at the code and with each successive try, the time period between times it would allow you to try again increased almost exponentially. After about three or four tries it would lock you out basically forever.

My daughter only got into it several hours later when she brought up the code screen and asked her three year old to show her what she punched. She pointed to the “5” and nothing else. Daughter tried 5555 - and that was it!


12 posted on 04/30/2014 8:41:53 AM PDT by Gaffer (Comprehensive Immigration Reform is just another name for Comprehensive Capitulation)
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To: Pecos
No, I will not provide the pass code. The fact that they cannot get into my phone is not my problem.

Amen to that.

13 posted on 04/30/2014 8:43:55 AM PDT by BuckeyeTexan (There are those that break and bend. I'm the other kind. ~Steve Earle)
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To: BuckeyeTexan
It sounds like someone could make a killing developing a “one button wipe” app that performs a DOD grade wipe of the contents of the phone when a code is inputed.
14 posted on 04/30/2014 8:44:10 AM PDT by apillar
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To: BuckeyeTexan

Kagan actually has a good point.

I would not expect the geriatric Justices to understand that people today use their cell phone for exactly the same purpose they used desktop computers for twenty years ago.


15 posted on 04/30/2014 8:45:43 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: BuckeyeTexan

Who needs a warrant anymore? Just search anything and everything and everyone at any time...starting with these black rob creeps.


16 posted on 04/30/2014 8:48:11 AM PDT by CodeToad (Arm Up! They Are!)
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To: BuckeyeTexan
“People carry their entire lives on their cellphone”

Therin lies your problem.

17 posted on 04/30/2014 8:48:50 AM PDT by Minutemen ("It's a Religion of Peace")
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To: Charles Martel

It wouldn’t surprise me if the manufacturers provided a universal unlock code/function for the police.

Traitors.


18 posted on 04/30/2014 8:49:59 AM PDT by BuckeyeTexan (There are those that break and bend. I'm the other kind. ~Steve Earle)
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To: All
The fact that it is even possible for USG to doubt that We the People are free from unwarranted search & seizure because is electronic, is clear indication of the Insanity of our Era, e.g., the collapse of USA law.
19 posted on 04/30/2014 8:52:39 AM PDT by veracious
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To: CodeToad

Sort of off topic, but ...

I’ve drilled their rights into my kids’ heads since they could understand the concept of remaining silent. They will provide only the minimum information required at traffic stops. They will not consent to a search under any circumstances. They will not answer investigatory questions from school administrators even when intimidated by campus security. Any they don’t fall for the if-you-have-nothing-to-hide routine.


20 posted on 04/30/2014 9:07:14 AM PDT by BuckeyeTexan (There are those that break and bend. I'm the other kind. ~Steve Earle)
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