With the fast advancement of technology, most industries have had to catch up, including the law sector. The issue of search warrants on phones has come up in multiple cases as mobile phones have become trendy. However, there are cases that set precedence to the rulings that judges follow today. There is a need to establish under what circumstances a person’s phone can be searched without being viewed as a violation of their privacy. In some cases, phone searches are important in getting justice for the victims, especially being that this is a common mode of communication and can also be used to identify the perpetrator’s locations. The issuance of search warrants is, however, still important regardless of the circumstances. It is crucial to draw the line between conducting searches for criminal reasons and simply violating a person’s privacy and rights.
As explained, there are cases in the past that have set precedence to the issue of phone searches today. The need to draw a line between intrusion and conducting a reasonable search for criminal reasons arises in the case of Riley v. California (Moore, Langton and Pochron 7). The information in Riley’s phone that was obtained by the police during his arrest led to additional charges. He was stopped because of a traffic violation but the search in his car and phone led to him being associated with a gang that the police were hunting. During the search on his phone, the police found text messages to people associated with the Bloods street gang and other pictures of Riley standing next to the car used in a previous shooting (8). During his trial, Riley raised the issue of how the information used to prosecute him was obtained. A lot of time was spent examining the characteristics of a phone where the court found that searching a person’s phone was a greater violation than looking through their wallets. The need to have a search warrant was evident (10). Police were, however, told to take any measures necessary to protect the digital data before obtaining the warrant such as removing the phone’s battery or turning it off. Even though the information obtained in this case was allowed, the court noted the need for police officers to obtain warrants before conducting phone searches.
Works Cited
Moore, Jennifer L., Jonathan Langton and Joseph Pochron “The Cost of Privacy: Riley V. California's Impact on Cell Phone Searches.” Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law, vol. 9, no. 3, 2014, pp. 7-18.
