[IP] When police can legally peruse your cell phone, PDA during an arrest [priv]
------ Forwarded Message
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 01:30:46 -0500
To: <politech@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Politech] When police can legally peruse your cell phone, PDA
during an arrest [priv]
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [Politech] Nude photos on cell phones lure cops;always
encrypt everything [priv]
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 13:30:39 -0500
From: Ted Bridis <TBridis@xxxxxx>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan@xxxxxxxx>
>>Do the police have a right to search through all the "data" a person
has in thier possession at the time of arrest?<<
http://www.cybercrime.gov/s&smanual2002.pdf
"Search and Seizure Manual: Searching and Seizing Computers and
Obtaining Electronic Evidence in Criminal Investigations"
"... To determine whether an individual has a reasonable expectation of
privacy in
information stored in a computer, it helps to treat the computer like a
closed
container such as a briefcase or file cabinet. The Fourth Amendment
generally
prohibits law enforcement from accessing and viewing information stored
in a
computer without a warrant if it would be prohibited from opening a
closed
container and examining its contents in the same situation.
"... When confronted with this issue, courts have analogized electronic
storage devices to closed containers, and have reasoned that accessing
the information stored within an electronic storage device is akin to
opening a closed container. Because individuals generally retain a
reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of closed containers,
see United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 822-23 (1982), they also
generally retain a reasonable expectation of privacy in data held within
electronic storage devices. Accordingly, accessing information stored in
a computer ordinarily will implicate the owner's reasonable expectation
of privacy in the information. See United States v. Barth, 26 F. Supp.
2d 929, 936-37 (W.D. Tex. 1998) (finding reasonable expectation of
privacy in files stored on hard drive of personal computer); United
States v. Reyes, 922 F. Supp. 818, 832-33 (S.D.N.Y. 1996) (finding
reasonable expectation of privacy in data stored in a pager); United
States v. Lynch, 908 F. Supp. 284, 287 (D.V.I. 1995) (same); United
States v. Chan, 830 F. Supp. 531, 535 (N.D. Cal. 1993) (same); United
States v. Blas, 1990 WL 265179, at *21 (E.D. Wis. Dec. 4, 1990) ("[A]n
individual has the same expectation of privacy in a pager, computer, or
other electronic data storage and retrieval device as in a closed
container.")."
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