Supreme Court of California holds that warrantless search of text messages is valid.

Filed on 1/3/2011, the Supreme Court of California held that a warrantless search of a cellphone is valid as being incident to a lawful arrest.  While the case did not discuss the type of phone, I began thinking about the type of data stored on my cellphone.  In a broad respect, I imagined an officer searching a smartphone (iPhone or Android-based phone).  What website passwords are stored?  Could a law enforcement officer read emails which had been previously unread by the suspect simply because the had authority to search the phone?  What about applications which may have used GPS-technology to track where the suspect had been?  Facebook? Foursquare? Dropbox?Apparently, Judge Werdegar has similar concerns.  His dissenting opinion, on page 24, expresses great concern over the applicability to such smartphones.  I would not be surprised if a case addresses these issues in the not-too-distant future.

It Is Necessary to Have Proper Legal Authority to Conduct a Forensic Examination of Cell Phones

DFI News has a three paragraph excerpt from Don L. Lewis' article, Examining Cellular Phones and Handheld Devices.  The excerpt and the full article present, amongst other more technical items, case law and discussion regarding the legal authority of searching and conducting a forensic examination of cell phones and handheld devices.  With the exception of the man whose car I jump-started this week, just about everyone else I know over the age of twelve carries at least one smartphone or wireless handheld device (such as an iPod, iPad, PDA, etc).  Chances are that whether you are prosecuting, defending, or involved in commercial litigation, it is important to make sure examination of these devices is handled properly.
Article Link:  It Is Necessary to Have Proper Legal Authority to Conduct a Forensic Examination of Cell Phones