SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The US Supreme Court is to rule on warrant-less searches of electronic devices. Law Enforcement (LE) want access, without warrants, to electronic devices of everybody arrested.
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday will take on the digital-age controversy over search and seizure of smart-phones and other devices. In two cases coming before the court, warrant-less searches of an electronic device not only provided the basis for criminal prosecutions but also strayed from the original reason for the arrests in question. President Barack Obama's administration and prosecutors from states across the country have lobbied for police officers to be able to search arrestees' gadgets - at or about the time of arrest - without a warrant. Such action, however, demands an examination of the Fourth Amendment's protection against "unreasonable searches and seizures." If nine out of 10 American adults own mobile phones and the devices have advanced to become virtual extensions of our personal and private lives, at what point does LE's access to their call logs, photos, and cloud-hosted data become "unreasonable" invasions of constitutionally protected privacy?
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Monday April 28 2014, @10:21PM
Why don't they just use the Interstate Commerce Clause like they do with other constitutional violations? Cell phones can cross state borders, therefore the government can do whatever they want with them.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 28 2014, @10:35PM
Both of the cases before the court are regarding local police forces and not federal, as far as I can tell.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday April 29 2014, @02:25AM
At the very least they can demonstrate that the data crosses state borders... that's a very nasty thought you had, and unfortunately I think you may be prophetic. :(
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.