Police extracting smartphone data

[legalskier]

ACLU wants to know how Michigan cops use 'data extraction devices'
The Michigan State Police have a handful of portable machines called "extraction devices" that have the potential to download personal information from motorists they pull over, and the ACLU would like to know more about them. The devices, sold by a company called Cellebrite, can download text messages, photos, video, and even GPS data from most brands of cell phones. The handheld machines have various interfaces to work with different models and can even bypass security passwords and access some information. The problem, as the ACLU sees it, is that accessing a citizen's private phone information when there's no probable cause could create a violation of the Constitution's 4th Amendment, which protects us against unreasonable searches and seizures. To that end, it's petitioning the MSP to turn over information about its use of the devices under the Freedom of Information Act. The MSP said it's happy to comply, that is, if the ACLU provides them with a processing fee in excess of $500,000. That's more than $100,000 for each of the five devices the MSP says it has in use.


Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20055431-1.html#ixzz1KNtx5Usb

Yikes.

 

[dmc]

Update on April 20 at 11:50 p.m.: The Michigan State Police later issued a statement saying that it only uses the data-extraction devices after obtaining a search warrant or consent from a cell phone's owner. See our story here for more details.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20055431-1.html#ixzz1KNwE6LTY

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[legalskier]

Still, I'm happy I don't have a smart phone. I have an old dumb phone. :smile:

 

[dmc]

I love my smart phone..

glad your happy...

 

[mondeo]

Probably can't get into mine. Everything's encrypted, not just password protected.

 

[gmcunni]

Probably can't get into mine. Everything's encrypted, not just password protected.

or can they . . . . . . . .

 

[legalskier]

Researcher: iPhone Location Data Already Used By Cops
*** "Through my work with various law enforcement agencies, we've used h-cells.plist on devices older than iOS 4 to harvest geolocational evidence from iOS devices."
That's very interesting. It's not that people in some circles already knew about the location data; in fact, the data are actively being used by law enforcement agencies as part of their investigations. Levinson declined to divulge the names of those agencies but told me he had worked with "multiple state and federal agencies both in the U.S. and internationally."
So when Allan and Warden say, "Don't panic … there's no immediate harm that would seem to come from the availability of this data," you have to ask whether that's the case. No court orders are needed to track your location history via an iPhone, since the devices are relatively open. All the investigator needs is the device itself.
LInk: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2011/tc20110421_195911_page_2.htm

I have a feeling many will disagree that "the devices are relatively open," which is just another way of saying the iPhone owner has no "expectation of privacy" for the data inside.