Florida Supreme Court Rules Police Need Warrant To Search Cell Phones 107
An anonymous reader writes "In a case stemming from a Jacksonville burglary, the Florida Supreme Court ruled 5-2 Thursday that police must get a search warrant before searching someone's cell phone. 'At this time, we cannot ignore that a significant portion of our population relies upon cell phones for email communications, text message information, scheduling, and banking,' read the majority opinion (PDF), authored by Justice Fred Lewis. 'The position of the dissent, which would permit the search here even though no issue existed with regard to officer safety or evidence preservation, is both contrary to, and the antithesis of, the fundamental protections against government intrusion guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment.'"
Not so in Ontario (Score:2, Informative)
The Ontario court of Appeal in a case called Fearon recently decided that if the phone is not password protected it is fair game for the police to go through it without a warrant.
Re:A win for me! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Why the difference? (Score:4, Informative)
For the same reason you can patent ancient chestnuts by suffixing the claims with "...in a mobile device." All bets are off and no claim is too outrageous.
The powers assume you don't have civil rights until some court says you do. Even the words on a 200-year-old scrap of parchment are re-parsed with each new technological advance (printing press, telegraphy, telephones, etc.) because there are people in power for whom your clearly stated rights are an obstacle to their goals... so your rights are not applicable in this particular case until someone slaps them on the wrist and tells them that the right does, in fact, still apply.
This is the ugly truth behind the often-quoted maxim "the law doesn't keep up with technology." The people behind the law have a vested interest in making sure the established protections of the rule of law can't be applied in as many circumstances as possible, and work hard to redefine each new technological plateau as a new frontier of surveillance, seizure, and self-incrimination.
The men behind the Bill of Rights understood this. This is why we even have a Bill of Rights: because the government needs a standing restraint order against stalking their citizens.
Re: Good (Score:2, Informative)
DOMA was put into place as a way to keep states from recognizing any other states law regarding gay marriage. So Florida wouldnt be forced to recognize a couples gay marriage certificate from California. It doesnt stop California from deciding whether or not it wants gay marriage. I'm not sure why this even came into question. Of course California can define marriage differently. I dont think DOMA ever had in its language to prohibit individual states from defining marriage how they see fit.
The only part I didnt like about that whole California case was that the California Supreme court allowed by ruling to let the people vote on it, as long as they got enough signatures on the ballot, which they did. Then when voting time came, the majority ruled to have no gay marriage, which afterwards the same California supreme court said it was unconstitutional. Thats just odd but then again it is California.
the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear this (Score:5, Informative)
Realllly ... (Score:4, Informative)
Here is a very important detail that just doesn't get noticed:
The US Constitution and Bill Of Rights DOES NOT GRANT ANY RIGHTS to the people. The people already had those rights. Those documents recognize those rights and protect those rights from intrusion by the government.
You might remember another document that said, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights. "
Yup, it is "self-evident" that these rights do not come from any gooberment proclamation. That fact that people seem to think that the government has rights over PEOPLE is one of the major problems that we have nowadays.
Re:the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear this (Score:5, Informative)