Skip to main content

Delaware needs a new law ...

... and you usually don't hear ME saying that.

Delaware is one of the states in which, if you are arrested, the Delaware Code is currently silent on whether or not law enforcement may seize and examine everything on your cell phone without a warrant.

The Florida Supreme Court recently ruled that such searches are not appropriate with a warrant:
“We refuse to authorize government intrusion into the most private and personal details of an arrestee’s life without a search warrant simply because the cellular phone device which stores that information is small enough to be carried on one’s person.” 
Given that, in Delaware, we already know that law enforcement is prone to invading your cell phone without your foreknowledge or permission [the DIAC "See something, say something" APP that converts your phone into a device to spy on you], it is not unreasonable to believe that our police are routinely examining the cell phones of people they have stopped or arrested.

[Ironically, a Delaware public official in a meeting on another subject verified that for me yesterday.  She noted that she had been stopped by an NCCPD Officer who accused her of having been talking or texting while driving.  When she denied it, the officer then demanded to examine both her private and work cell phones to determine the times of her last calls and texts.  Amazingly (because the lady in question is actually an attorney) she agreed to this demand, only to realize later that by doing so she had granted him basically an unlimited ability to snoop into her private records based on nothing more than a (possible) minor moving violation infraction.]

Somebody find me a state legislator who actually cares about civil liberties, so we can get a bill written for January requiring police to have a warrant before they get to access your cell phone.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Obligatory Libertarian Tax Day Post

The most disturbing factoid that I learned on Tax Day was that the average American must now spend a full twenty-four hours filling out tax forms. That's three work days. Or, think of it this way: if you had to put in two hours per night after dinner to finish your taxes, that's two weeks (with Sundays off). I saw a talking head economics professor on some Philly TV channel pontificating about how Americans procrastinate. He was laughing. The IRS guy they interviewed actually said, "Tick, tick, tick." You have to wonder if Governor Ruth Ann Minner and her cohorts put in twenty-four hours pondering whether or not to give Kraft Foods $708,000 of our State taxes while demanding that school districts return $8-10 million each?

New Warfare: I started my posts with a discussion.....

.....on Unrestricted warfare . The US Air force Institute for National Security Studies have developed a reasonable systems approach to deter non-state violent actors who they label as NSVA's. It is an exceptionally important report if we want to deter violent extremism and other potential violent actors that could threaten this nation and its security. It is THE report our political officials should be listening to to shape policy so that we do not become excessive in using force against those who do not agree with policy and dispute it with reason and normal non-violent civil disobedience. This report, should be carefully read by everyone really concerned with protecting civil liberties while deterring violent terrorism and I recommend if you are a professional you send your recommendations via e-mail at the link above so that either 1.) additional safeguards to civil liberties are included, or 2.) additional viable strategies can be used. Finally, one can only hope that politici

More of This, Please

Or perhaps I should say, "Less of this one, please." Or how about just, "None of them. Ever again. Please....For the Love of God." Sunshine State Poll: Grayson In Trouble The latest Sunshine State/VSS poll shows controversial Democratic incumbent Alan Grayson trailing former state Senator Dan Webster by seven points, 43 percent to 36 percent. A majority of respondents -- 51 percent -- disapprove of the job that Grayson is doing. Independents have an unfavorable view of him as well, by a 36/47 margin. Grayson has ignored the conventional wisdom that a freshman should be a quiet member who carefully tends to the home fires. The latest controversy involves his " Taliban Dan " advertisement, where he explicitly compares his opponent to the Taliban, and shows a clip of Webster paraphrasing Ephesians 5:22 -- "wives, submit to your husbands." An unedited version of the clip shows that Webster was actually suggesting that husba