Wear this Night Owl item ($49). Also records audio. 
Posted on 10/07/2011 12:22:10 PM PDT by Immerito
In a case explicitly decided to set a precedent, the California Appellate court has determined police officers can rifle through your cellphone during a traffic violation stop.
This is not the first time such a law has been under scrutiny. In April, the Blaze told you about the extraction devices police were using in Michigan to download the entire contents of your phone.
Florida and Georgia are among the states that give no protection to a phone during a search after a violation has been committed. In particular, Florida law treats a smartphone as a “container” for the purposes of a search, similar to say a cardboard box open on the passenger seat, despite the thousands of personal emails, contacts, and photos a phone can carry stretching back years.
But after initially striking down cell phone snooping, California has now joined the list of states that allow cops to go through your phone without a warrant if they decide to impound your car.
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
I got an answer for this, well kinda.
Carry TWO phones, one a junk (maybe even inoperable) unit, leave it on your passenger car seat while you’re headed down the highway.
You see the flashing blue lights of Officer Not-So-Friendly?
Slip your working phone into password protect mode, slide it into your pocket, if questioned about it say “that’s my girlfriend’s phone, can you get into it? I think she’s been cattin’ around on me, I’ve already tried to get into it, but she’s got it password protected”.
Oh, that phone on the passenger seat? That’s mine, you wanna look at it?
FUOTSF!!
Argh, “FUOTSF” = “FUONSF”
Wear this Night Owl item ($49). Also records audio.
I retired 10 years ago, but in the 23 years I was in LE, a locked container was protected from search without a warrant. We could “inventory” the vehicle contents when it was impounded, but only things that were in plain sight. This ruling confounds all logic.
The gestopo will be mighty bored with the contents of my cell phone.
Americans are going to learn, sooner or later, that techonology is not without brainless consequence. It would be better for the public to learn that the internet, twitter and facebook is not their best friend and first love in life. It is a tool; not a lover.
Need Spanish lessons?
Lo siento mucho, cabron, pero no entiendo nada en Ingles. No tengo licensia, o seguro. Pe puedes llevar a casa?
ever tried it? you have to wait progressively longer with each error. in the time it takes to enter the wrong code ten times, the cop can have a warrant there.
Password Protected can mean a few different things.
If the phone just has a password screen lock, then it doesn't matter. The police are exporting the data from the cell phone and can examine it at their leisure.
On the other hand, if all of the data on the cell phone is encrypted, and the password allows it to be un-encrypted, then your information is much, much safer from viewing.
I know that the Android 3 operating system allows you to encrypt your data and password protect it, but I've never used the feature. I do know that there is general distrust of encryption capabilities that are built-in with big-name operating systems. Many people are suspicious that the operating system vendor has built in back-doors and will provide access to those back-doors to the government if asked. I don't know if anyone yet makes a 3rd party encryption solution for IOS or Android phones.
Right. This overturns Terry v US whether they realize it or not.
—If the phone just has a password screen lock, then it doesn’t matter. The police are exporting the data from the cell phone and can examine it at their leisure. —
I was thinking of it more in a legal sense as mentioned in post 24 (referenced to a locked container) as opposed to a literal sense. I’m thinking of it as being a locked box with a very cheap lock on it. Can the police legally break or pick the lock to examine the contents?
An initially interesting item, still available HERE. Their reviewers didn't savage the item as badly as at COSTCO. That bunch really had bad luck and if it was as bad as they stated, you wonder COSTCO wouldn't have filtered it out beforehand.
One that worked right and was reasonable would come in handy.
In all my training and experience a locked container can not be opened without a warrant. If it was a small or portable container the courts have previously ruled that the entire container can be impounded until a warrant is obtained, but it cannot be opened. A lock is a clear indication that the owner is preserving his right to privacy and has a reasonable expectation thereof. In my opinion this is a major shift in erosion of privacy rights and the courts know exactly what they are doing here. If it gets past the USSC we’re screwed.
Ah. Got it.
You would hope that if the law uses the analogy of the "container" in the first place, then a screen-locked cell phone would be equivalent to a closed/locked container (which the police, supposedly, are not allowed to open).
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