Personal data stored on smartphones has become quite the hot-button topic of late. With Apple and Google playing the defensive after it was outed that applications are allowed to have access to contact information or all your photos stored on the device (among others), smartphone users don’t always know what their rights are when it comes to their privacy. Many would argue that under normal circumstances, users should be required to grant permission for software or applications to be granted access to certain data and that your data is yours and yours alone, but what about when you’re under investigation for a crime?
In Indiana recently, police officers found a number of cell phones at the scene of a drug bust. The officers went through each of the smartphones they found to record the phone number associated with the device in an effort to use this information to match phone numbers against phone records they’ve obtained pertinent to the drug ring they were busting. One of the individuals convicted in the drug bust argued while appealing his conviction that the police officers had no right to search his cell phone records without a warrant.
The U.S. Court of Appeal for the 7th Circuit issued a ruling on the case last week, determining that the invasion of privacy in this case was so slight that the actions of the police did not violate the right to not be subjected to unreasonable searches granted under the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The court ruled that while officers should be allowed to access the device’s phone number without a warrant, obtaining specific information related to the case without a warrant would not be allowed, as these would constitute an unreasonable search. The court did leave some gray area as to just how far police officers can go in warrantless searches of a cell phone, a decision that will have to wait for another day.
What do you think constitutes a crossing of the line when it comes to warrantless searches of cellular devices? Do you agree with the ruling? Should officers be allowed to access the device’s phone number, should they be granted more/less authority?
[via Reuters; Image from Delaware Online]
