Police Cannot Search Mobile Phone without Warrant

The NY Times reports that the Ohio Supreme Court recently issued a ruling that requires police to get a warrant before they can search a mobile phone, the first such ruling from a state supreme court. This is seen as a victory by privacy advocates who argue that searching a mobile phone without a warrant is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Rather than seeing a cellphone as a simple closed container, the majority noted that modern cellphones — especially ones that permit Internet access — are "capable of storing a wealth of digitized information." This is information, the court said, for which people reasonably have a high expectation of privacy, and under established Fourth Amendment principles, police officers must get a search warrant before they can look through call logs or examine other data.

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