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posted by janrinok on Monday April 28 2014, @08:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the toss-of-a-coin dept.

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?

 
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by tathra on Tuesday April 29 2014, @02:43AM

    by tathra (3367) on Tuesday April 29 2014, @02:43AM (#37485)

    Who knows, this could be one of those rare cases that the Supreme Court actually sides with the average citizen

    i dont want the supreme court taking "sides" at all - i want them to impartially judge whether or not its constitutional, which is very clear to anyone who has ever read the thing. amendment 4 specifically says that this is not legal:

    The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

    general warrants and warrantless searches are not and can not ever be legal, period.

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