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Cops must get a warrant before raiding phones, email, etc. (in California)
El Reg published today a story [theregister.co.uk] that gives California what only two other states currently have:
[A] law requiring police to obtain a warrant before searching phones, tablets, and other electronic devices, and accounts in cloud services, too.
Governor Jerry Brown on Thursday signed off the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) [ca.gov] to require a search warrant for electronic searches. The law means cops will now need to obtain a warrant from a judge in order to retrieve electronic information, including emails, texts, and locational data, on a device or from a hosted service provider.
"For too long, California's digital privacy laws have been stuck in the Dark Ages, leaving our personal emails, text messages, photos, and smartphones increasingly vulnerable to warrantless searches," said Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), co-author of the bill.
"That ends today with the Governor's signature of CalECPA, a carefully crafted law that protects personal information of all Californians. The bill also ensures that law enforcement officials have the tools they need to continue to fight crime in the digital age."
More coverage by Wired [wired.com] and the Electronic Freedom Foundation [eff.org].
No word, however, on what the state legislature will do about Stingray [wikipedia.org].
