Smartphones and the 4th Amendment

On April 29, 2014 the Supreme Court will be considering whether or not officers during an arrest may search the contents of a person’s mobile phone without a warrant. The court should recognize that new technologies do not alter basic Fourth Amendment principles, and should require a judicial warrant in such circumstances.

If you consider how many American Adults own a smartphone and/or a personal computer, you'll see that a new law if implemented wouldn't only be effecting a small number of people. We all know what the 4th Amendment is and how police officers must obtain a warrant based on probable cause before searching “persons, houses, papers, and effects.” As all Amendments, there are a few narrow exceptions to the warrant requirement. For example, when police officers lawfully arrest someone, they may search his or her body and immediate surroundings and seize any belongings to ensure officer safety or the preservation of evidence. But mobile phones aren’t weapons and pose no physical threat, and any evidence on the phone can be preserved by using special devices to prevent remote deletion of the data.

The U.S. Government argues that mobile phones are no different from other personal items that may already be searched, like wallets, purses or address books. But the exception for searches incident to arrests was limited by the constraints on what a person could physically carry. 

I have to agree with the United State Government on this one. What does everyone else think? When do you think, if ever,  a law will go into effect?


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/28/opinion/smartphones-and-the-4th-amendment.html?_r=0

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