Cell Phones & Your Privacy

Police officers used to be able to search a person's cellular telephone upon a lawful arrest of that person. For instance, if someone were caught smoking marijuana in their car, the police would seize their cellular telephone, and utilize the information within that phone to levy additional charges, or identify potential targets for additional investigation. All this was done without a warrant. However, in a recent decision, the United States Supreme Court has put a stop to these searches. 

A few months ago, the United States Supreme Court ruled on the case of Riley v. California.  In this decision, the Court decided that due to the amount of private information stored on our cellular telephones, there is a certain unreasonable intrusion if the police were to search those phones without a warrant. Therefore if the police attempt to search the phone without a warrant, any information derived from such search should be suppressed by a Court and should not be used as evidence. 

This decision has finally brought the 4th amendment expectation of privacy to our personal electronics, and it was long overdue.

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-132_8l9c.pdf