Click pic to watch the video
You’ve got nothing to hide, right? So, if you don’t want to hand it over, you’re obviously guilty of something.
The Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is questioning the Michigan State Police’s use of cellphone “extraction” devices. The ACLU said MSP has used the devices to access information from cellphones that officers ask drivers they have pulled over to give them.
“It can contain information that many people consider to be private, to be beyond the reach of law enforcement and other government actors,” said Mark Fancher, an ACLU attorney.
The ACLU is asking why the state police is using devices that can gather data stored on cellphones, and why it is not telling the public about it. The ACLU said the devices could violate Fourth Amendment rights.
“There is great potential for abuse here by a police officer or a state trooper who may not be monitored or supervised on the street,” Fancher said.
Pro-tip: The po po are also doing it with your GPS.
You might want to take steps to prevent theft.
Time to make a contact in my phone list “FU Pigs”
There are some advantages to looking old (the cops never suspect I’m a tech), poor (the cops never hassle with phony ticket scams) crippled (they never consider a cane to be a weapon until they’re holding their shins.)
I also (rarely) use a bone stupid wireless phone so I say off the grid as much as possible.
I’m pretty much invisible and I like it that way.
Looks like a new use for your old cellphone. Keep it in your car and had the old one over when asked. Just be sure to properly wipe it first.
“could violate Fourth Amendment rights…”
How about, “Does violate 4th Amendment.”
#4 – Wipe it? I think I’d leave it covered in crap.
:/
It’s probably to make sure you weren’t texting before they pulled you over. Out of all the real crimes to fight, this is it.
Seems to me “cell phones” should have the same privacy protections as your home phone. I’m thinking cops need to get a search warrant to review you home phone records?
I don’t know but that sounds right. Whatever the home phone deal is should be the law for all phones. ACLU should have an easy case.
We all support the ACLU right?
This story is de rigueur for a typical left-wing news story in which I have come to expect from John C. Dvorak’s blog. I like it, but the posts here are a bit too much of a one-sided argument. I like to gather my information from a non-biased source. I would like to hear the news from both sides, and then formulate my own educated opinion. I would like to hear the news from a right-wing perspective, and then find out how stupid such viewpoints are of my own accord. LOLZ! 🙂 keep up the good work, but this ain’t a news-blog in the strictest sense of the word “news.” News as presented can never actually be non-biased in the “real world.” It’s a misnomer to say otherwise. It’s up to the independent observer to decide what it all means. Words matter, and yet the fallacy is that we humans rely upon words in every aspect of our lives. It is quite a conundrum. All we have left is our common sense, and I am sad to say that such a resource is in limited quantities these days.
“I do not consent to a search of my cell phone”
probably preaching to the choir here though.
I have a sneaky suspicion that the Michigan State Police cannot compel you to hand over your phone. The “officers ask drivers they have pulled over to give them (their phone)”. By handing it over you would be giving them permission to dig thru it or in this case plug it into some device to download who knows what. As bad as that is, all of that downloaded info will now sit in some database with unknown security and untold numbers of people with authorized access to it.
I read the article but did not watch the video, so I wonder what happens if you refuse to hand over your cell phone without some type of search warrant/court order.
Long live the gestapos!
#9–monkey==I prefer peanut butter pretzels. How come this snack food website doesn’t cover this issue more evenly?
Cap’nKangaroo, you’re absolutely right. The common citizen really doesn’t grasp what “individual right’s” mean on an intellectual level. They do not ascertain how it applies to them until it affects them on some personal level. It’s as if they internalize rationalize the following: “Okay I will give you all of my information because I have nothing to hide anyways.” Until an individual is persecuted for his/her belief’s he/she really DOESN’T have anything to hide, but that fork in the road of state persecution is always poised to manifest at a moment’s notice. Stand up for your rights NOW lest they be eventually be taken from you. It is akin to having a rug pulled-out from under you while you stand/or sleep there blissfully unaware.
bobbo, I see your point. Maybe I actually like pissing in the wind though. At least it makes me feel all warm and comfy. 🙂
And if you believe you have to hand over your phone for the location info to be accessed by law enforcement, think again. Here is a link to a Time article that says most cell carriers regularly provide law enforcement with location info with the barest of legal justification.
http://newsweek.com/2010/02/18/the-snitch-in-your-pocket.html
Sprint even set up a web site for LEO’s to log into to, saving Sprint the hassle of handling the requests.
I’m sorry, I misidentified the source of the article. It was Newsweek, not Time.
Corporations have all the benefits of having individual rights from the point of view of our Constitution, and yet suffer none of the downsides. It’s a nice gig if you can get it! All ya gotta do is become a fat, lazy slob who benefits from the labour of subordinates. We are no better from the caste-system our ancestors tried to escape from hundreds of years ago.
come on public,
JUST SAY NO!!!!!
It’s probably no coincident that this state is going down hill fast!
It’s no wonder Michigan is depopulating as fast as it is!
Who wants to live or work in a police state?
Put a password or some protective code on it. I’d argue it’s the same as a locked glovebox.
In order to save money for the things I splurge on I have a cheap track phone. Anything they can learn from it is public information.
#16 had it right. The courts have allowed the phone companies to make money by selling the cops your information. Okay the courts said they had to turn over the information if asked and the phone companies charge.
I’m sure the police don’t have the right to compel you to hand over your phone.
But if you refuse, I expect the response will be something like “well, I was just going to give you a warning, but now I’m going to give you a ticket, unless…”
So now your choice is, get a ticket, or hand over your phone.
The only do this to drug dealers.
I don’t care about the rights of drug dealers.
hmeyers: “I don’t fear rapists because rapists only rape women, and I’m a man.” Or some such logic.
Wrong is wrong.
The people will only put up with so much crap. At some point we must reach a break-point. I hope it is sooner rather than later.
#24 – how do they identify the drug dealers? Do they wait until they’re convicted first? Or do drug dealers have a special bumper sticker so they can be easily spotted by police?
BTW, drug dealers are most likely using several disposable cell phones, so the call history would not help convict them.
They don’t really need your phone. They can just go back to the Crown Vic and call in a Pen Register on your ass without a warrant. Of course a Pen Register would not allow them to browse through your sexting pictures, but it would tell them all the numbers you called, who called you, who you texted and when and where you were, etc… with no warrant, just a small charge to ma bell and her kids and they get it in seconds.
It’s gotten so easy that a provider like Sprint has gone from about 4000 requests a year in 2002 to over 8 million today. That is why they need an automated webportal, they don’t have the man power to be snooping on every citizen and trying to run a business.
Google: Pen Register / Trap & Trace
#15–monkey==have you ever pissed into the wind? I have by accident, its COLD. You do get warm and comfortable only when pissing into a scuba diving wet suit.
Details and accuracy don’t matter that much and only mindless pendants write to add to the record.
When it comes to breaking points, the record shows We the Sheeple will absorb an unlimited amount of abuse from our civil overlords. Think of the number of isues on which it is clear the majority of the people are of one mind, but our laws, which necessarily put violators of which in jail, but our civil overlords are of another.
Land of the Free. Relative statement.
# 9 rabidmonkey >>I would like to hear the news from a right-wing perspective, and then find out how stupid such viewpoints are of my own accord.>>
At least you go into it with a open mind. Must get chilly when the wind blows through.