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Michigan Police Could Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops

Posted by timothy on from the gentlemen-do-not-read-each-other's-texts dept.

SonicSpike writes "The Michigan State Police have a high-tech mobile forensics device that can be used to extract information from cell phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan last Wednesday demanded that state officials stop stonewalling freedom of information requests for information on the program. A US Department of Justice test of the CelleBrite UFED used by Michigan police found the device could grab all of the photos and videos off of an iPhone within one-and-a-half minutes. The device works with 3000 different phone models and can even defeat password protections. 'Complete extraction of existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags,' a CelleBrite brochure explains regarding the device's capabilities." Popular Mechanics has a short conversation with a 4th Amendment lawyer about the practice of slurping cellphone data, too, though it's unclear if the Michigan police are actually using these devices to their full potential.

2 of 525 comments (clear)

  1. OUTRAGEOUS cost by fwice · · Score: 5, Informative

    ACLU learned that the police had acquired the cell phone scanning devices and in August 2008 filed an official request for records on the program, including logs of how the devices were used. The state police responded by saying they would provide the information only in return for a payment of $544,680.

    emphasis mine. ACLU put in a FOIA, police wanted $544,680 to respond.

    Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? No one, when the pay-to-play is that high...

    1. Re:OUTRAGEOUS cost by sys_mast · · Score: 5, Informative

      Guess i'm going to call you a liar.

      At least where I live to be called to court someone has to HAND deliver the letter to you. Most people filing a claim against someone they don't care for will pay a few bucks to have the sheriffs department deliver the notice.(I don't remember the price to have the cops deliver it for you but I thought it was very cheap. Doubly so if you don't like the person and have the deliver it to the persons work) But there isn't anything like sending a letter to an address you lived at at one point in your life and claiming you were notified.

      If that's the way the courts work where you live you need to get that changed, it's wrong.

      --
      Those who can, do.