Re: Michigan cops scan cell phone during traffic stops
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: oldgrayone</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Here is an interesting bit of info I found. Can anyone chime in on how this can be productive?</div></div>
Can not. Is not productive. To the OP great post. Seems CelleBrite wants to make money and the cop shops still have decent budgets every year to use it or loose it next year. It is wrong for cops to have this capability in the field, going around the feds who already have access to the same information a different way. Cops often abuse the power given in their jobs. "A US Department of Justice test of the CelleBrite UFED used by Michigan police found the device could grab all of the photos and video off of an iPhone within one-and-a-half minutes. The device works with 3000 different phone models and can even defeat password protections."
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: High Binder</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Well to be fair, many things that violate the constitution/BOR happen everyday and continue until somebody takes it thought the court process. So just because it's against the law doesn't mean it isn't happening.</div></div>
"Law enforcement officers are known, on occasion, to encourage citizens to cooperate if they have nothing to hide," ACLU staff attorney Mark P. Fancher wrote. "No less should be expected of law enforcement...". It is standard procedure for cops to push limits, in the disguise of getting their job done better. Some do it more than others - just ask one, or watch a few episodes of cops on TV.
Next the 'authorities' in a court system driven by money will simply download the same information over the cell services without users knowing (if not doing already). And use the camera, audio recording, and GPS at will for anyone they are interested in. Most people these days are walking around with bugging devices loaded with information in their pockets - tell me the feds are not already tapping into that at will thanks to new laws put in place for warrantless searches for 'national security'.
My bet is 'authorities' are getting this kind of information and more (phone numbers, pictures, who dialed, GPS location tracking) already from who they want it without using a CelleBrite UFED data sucker. More people should be careful with increasingly powerful smart phones which now have more horsepower than computers did only a few decades ago.
Here is one quick example in the news in the last couple days ... "Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upholds unlimited police use of GPS tracking without a warrant - Judge Diane P. Wood. The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled yesterday in favor of police officers who attach GPS tracking devices to vehicles without first obtaining a warrant."
Federal Court Endorses Warrantless GPS Tracking
This problem is bigger than this. The NSA can do it without the little device. "The NSA call database is a database created by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) that contains hundreds of billions of records of telephone calls made by U.S. citizens from the four largest telephone carriers in the United States: AT&T, SBC, BellSouth (all three now called AT&T), and Verizon. The existence of this database and the NSA program that compiled it was unknown to the general public until USA Today broke the story on May 10, 2006. It is estimated that the database contains over 1.9 trillion call-detail records."
NSA call database
"part of the broader President's Surveillance Program, the NSA is authorized by executive order to monitor, without search warrants, phone calls, e-mails, Internet activity, text messaging, and other communication involving any party believed by the NSA to be outside the U.S." ... or if they are a safety concern and more at:
NSA warrantless surveillance controversy
The Bush 'war on terror' was used to reduce the rights of all US citizens about a decade ago. Is something we now get to live with. Whoever calls this the 'land of the free' should spend time to become more informed.