Supreme Court Issues Bold Decision On Cell Phone Privacy | ThinkProgress

Supreme Court Issues Bold Decision On Cell Phone Privacy | ThinkProgress:



"[W]hen police arrest someone carrying a cell phone, does that arrest give law enforcement license to cull through the device and access whatever information they choose?
The answer, according to a nearly unanimous opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, is no. “Cell phones,” Roberts explained, “place vast quantities of personal information literally in the hands of individuals. A search of the information on a cell phone bears little resemblance to the type of brief physical search” authorized by previous cases.
As Roberts lays out, few of the traditional justifications for a search incident to arrest authorize a full search of a suspect’s cell phone."

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Police across the nation routinely do this as part of their "search incident to arrest." It is a bogus justification, and the Supreme Court just shut them down.  Establish probable cause, go to a judge, and get a warrant if you want to do a search!