Mobile phone privacy upheld by US Supreme Court

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

By David Millward

Unanimous ruling by Supreme Court is victory for campaigners against intrusion

American law enforcement agencies have been banned from searching the contents of mobile phones without a warrant. In what will be seen as a landmark decision the court has upheld the privacy of mobile phone owners – around 90 per cent of the US population. It is estimated that this will have an impact on 12 million people who are arrested in the US every year.

Previously the court had ruled that the police did not require a warrant to demand suspects empty their pockets. But according to the latest decision, this exemption does not apply to mobiles.

In his judgment, Chief Justice John Roberts said mobile phones were central to the everyday life of Americans. He added they were: “such a pervasive and insistent part of daily life that the proverbial visitor from Mars might conclude they were an important feature of human anatomy.”

Harking back to the American War of Independence, he said that the rebels had fought against the general warrants enforced by the Crown which allowed unrestricted searches of citizens’ property.

He added: “The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand.does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the founders fought.”

Mobile phones, he said, provided a digital record of all aspects of Americans’ lives.

However he accepted that privacy came at a cost with mobile phones also playing a key role in coordinating crime.

The case came before the Supreme Court following two appeals. In one case video and photographs found on the phone of a man who had been stopped for driving on a suspended licence were used to convict him of murder.

In the other material on the phone of a man arrested for dealing crack cocaine led to a search of his home where police found ammunition, more cocaine, a gun and marijuana.