Will California's Governor Outlaw Police From Searching Mobile Phones Without A Warrant?
from the what-4th-amendment? dept
For years, we’ve discussed the legality of police searching the contents of your smartphone at a traffic stop. The issue is a bit complex legally. The law generally says that police can search through anything on your body, but that was generally meant for things like your wallet or other physical storage. When it comes to something like a smartphone, that contains all sorts of details about your life (and the ability to access a hell of a lot more) the questions become a lot trickier. It certainly feels like it should be against the 4th Amendment to allow such searches without a warrant — but the courts have been mixed. Tragically, earlier this year, California’s Supreme Court ruled that such searches were perfectly legal without a warrant. In response, the California legislature passed a bill, SB 914, which would require police to get a warrant.
But there’s a problem: Governor Jerry Brown hasn’t signed it yet.
Despite petitions and a variety of editorials urging him to sign it, he’s still sitting on it (he has until October 9th). Wired is reporting a rumor that Brown has agreed to veto the legislation in an effort to please the “law enforcement lobby.”
As the Wired article notes, the law itself is already pretty weak, allowing law enforcement to ignore the warrant requirement under vaguely defined emergency circumstances. It also doesn’t require any official reporting of such uses where the warrant requirement is ignored, meaning that such an exception might be abused. But it certainly takes things a big step in the right direction concerning an individual’s right to privacy. Hopefully Governor Brown recognizes this and signs the bill.
Filed Under: 4th amendment, california, jerry brown, privacy, smartphone, warrants
