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Michigan Police Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops
- Stormbringer 16y agoWow, this is outrageous. Is this the same state that declared war on it's own teachers? Why are they so messed up?
- phsr 16y agoWisconsin was the state the looked to take the power away from unions
- Harkins 16y agoYes, you're thinking of the right state: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-04-15-detroit-teacher-layoffs.htm http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-04-15-detroit-te...
- rmason 16y agoCheck the date in the article. This started under the previous Democratic governor Jennifer Granholm. I live just outside the capital and trust me this was done quietly, very quietly never making the papers until the ACLU lawsuit. Judging from my friends this is opposed by people in both political parties and I doubt will be allowed to stand.
- blargherson 16y agoBecause the citizenry are complacent. 60 years ago, my grandfather would've led the charge to hang these traitors from the nearest convenient lamp-post. Now, I'm too busy waiting for the next American Idol to be bothered with the whole messy business. Vote from the rooftops, its our only hope.
- cookiecaper 16y agoPretty crazy, and a great argument for device-level encryption on mobile. I really hope someone gets it together and exposes Linux's encryption support on Android devices. I think it'd be pretty difficult to grab the key from memory with a device like that, but you should be able to turn the device off or pull the battery when you get stopped anyway if that's a concern.
- flipbrad 16y agobe careful about laws making it illegal to obstruct the course of justice, destroy evidence, etc.
- CWuestefeld 16y agoJust got an Android two weeks ago, and I'm shocked that so far I haven't been able to find TrueCrypt or similar software available for it. Does anybody know of a solution?
- alexqgb 16y agoLooks like the phone in the picture was on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan.
- mikeknoop 16y agoHow do these traffic stops work? I think someone is exaggerating something. "Hello I stopped you because you were going 85 in a 70 mph area. Please give me your license, insurance, and cell phone"? What laws govern police asking for things?
- AndrewMoffat 16y agoWhat laws govern police asking for things? From what I've gathered, police can ask for all kinds of things that they legally have no right to (searches, being let in, etc), but you can still ignorantly comply. They can even legally lie about shit to persuade you.
- jshort 16y agoThey can also do things that are illegal and then lie about them after if needed. Or just make up some false probable cause to warrant a search.
- stretchwithme 16y agoOne ought to be able to consult a lawyer or ombudsman during these attacks on your civil rights. You haven't committed any crime. Who's supposed to be serving who here?
- notyourwork 16y agoHave to disagree with "You haven't committed any crime" because these to my understanding occur during traffic violation. Not saying I agree with the practice but am saying cops are not pulling over perfectly legal drivers and saying "Sir/Ma'am please handover your cell phone".
- ynniv 16y agoAn ambiguous crime. The limits are clearly posted, but enforcement is highly inconsistent. Driving the speed limit has probably become indicative of old age or an attempt to avoid police interaction. Try strictly driving the posted limit for a while and you will find it socially unacceptable. While most traffic stops are rightly due to excessive violation, some are an excuse to investigate. A stop for speeding makes a great cover should the motorist complain. If they were driving slower than the social norm, or even the cars around them, there is no hard evidence to support their case.
- rflrob 16y ago> The state police responded by saying they would provide the information only in return for a payment of $544,680. Anyone know what Michigan's Freedom of Information laws are like? Half a million seems ridiculously high for a FoIA-type request.
- r00fus 16y agohttp://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,1607,7-164-17337_18160-51242--,00.html http://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,1607,7-164-17337_18160-51242--,... Relevant text: A government agency may charge a fee for the necessary copying of a public record for inspection or providing a copy of a public record to a requestor. A public body may also charge for search, examination and review and the separation of exempt information in those instances where failure to charge a fee would result in unreasonably high costs to the public body. The fee must be limited to actual duplication, mailing and labor costs. The first $20 of a fee must be waived for a person who is on welfare or presents facts showing inability to pay because of indigency. (italics mine) Translation: The $500k "fee" is another denial/delay tactic
- ceejayoz 16y ago> The fee must be limited to actual duplication, mailing and labor costs. All they have to do to drive up the costs is pay a secretary to duplicate by manually transcribing digital data as ones and zeroes.
- davidandgoliath 16y agoAndroid phone encryption: http://www.whispersys.com/ http://www.whispersys.com/ -- the good sire @moxie_ makes it. I believe it's supported on the nexus one and nexus s. They all at some point will have the source code available, though until that occurs I've only got redphone / textsecure installed. Great apps., great developer.
- shareme 16y agoall encryption always has source code.. and encrypting folks are not real smart..they make human mistakes like all of us..
- Nate75Sanders 16y agoAny word on how this device works?
- morganpyne 16y agoThe Cellebrite website is here: http://www.cellebrite.com/forensic-products/ufed-physical-pro.html http://www.cellebrite.com/forensic-products/ufed-physical-pr... Wonder if they sell to private individuals?; they only seem to list military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies as their target customer on their site. To defeat over 3000 models of phones it would need to have about 2000 different connection types, based on my experience trying to plug in and extract information from various manufacturers extortionately priced dongle custom connectors. I found myself inadvertently helping a friend today who's abusive manipulative ex-partner has been sexting their 14yr old daughter and I was helping her recover the messages to present to the police; could seriously have used one of these and avoided a heap of hassle with drivers, cables, custom software. (The NZ police don't seem to have these devices yet)
- r00fus 16y agoWould that evidence be permissible in court?
- morganpyne 16y agoIn this case I believe so. I was doing nothing more than recovering text messages and phone call logs so that they could be printed. The police had already seen and witnessed the information directly on the devices, but had asked if they could be printed to make it easier to include them in a file (i.e. they actually requested my friend do this if she had the means as it would be preferable to hand-transcribing this information)
- noonespecial 16y agoI'm thinking I need an app that immediately encrypts the flash should it ever detect its been placed in a "Faraday bag". I've actually tried to isolate a phone from the network for testing. Its much more difficult that it seems like it should be. I'm wondering if such a thing works or if this more of a gimmick. The only reliable way I've found of making sure my iphone is truly off the air is to take it to San Fran(1)... (1) I'll be here all week. Try the veal.
- morganpyne 16y agoJust reading some more about the device in question. The downloads section of their website has some interesting information. http://www.cellebrite.com/ufed-support-center/downloads.html http://www.cellebrite.com/ufed-support-center/downloads.html The "Apple iPhone Passcode Bypass instructions" document explains that they can bypass your iphone User Lock, but they need access to a plist file from the iTunes installation on the machine which the phone syncs to, which is often unlikely to be available at a routine traffic stop.
- jijoy 16y agoThis is a free country ? Iran , is better I must say
- patio11 16y agoFriendly reminder: the magic words for dealing with the police are "I do not consent to a search. Am I free to leave?" It's just business: you never need a reason to ask for more money in a negotiation and you never need a reason to avoid waiving your Constitutional rights. If they need your iPhone address book they can get a search warrant. (Our historical understand is that they do need a reason for asking for that sort of thing, and that your papers and effects enjoy a strong presumption of privacy.)
- shpxnvz 16y agoIf they need your iPhone address book they can get a search warrant. While I agree that's our right as protected by the 4th, some states have determined that only probable cause is required to confiscate and search cell phones (e.g. California). In those states refusing to consent will not help (except of course if you plan on taking the case to SCOTUS).
- evilduck 16y agoCurious, what about password protected cellphones? "Sure officer, here's my phone, you're welcome to fiddle with the password screen until you wipe the device."
- manvsmachine 16y agoIn the article, it said that the device used could extract data regardless of whether the phone was password-protected or not. Looks like it's time to start encrypting our cellphone data as well.
- evilduck 16y agoTo clarify, I was curious about California's situation.
- shpxnvz 16y agoI don't recall any mention of the specific methods used in California, but in this case the officer took the phone when he arrested the person, so presumably the police had quite a long time to muck about with it. Here is one of the original articles covering the California Supreme Court ruling: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/warrantless-cell-phone-search-gets-a-green-light-in-california.ars http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/warrantless-...
- softgrow 16y agoCould we use a more reliable source? Thenewspaper.com is anonymous. Try http://www.aclumich.org/issues/privacy-and-technology/2011-04/1542 http://www.aclumich.org/issues/privacy-and-technology/2011-0... A bit more believable.
- 1010011010 16y agoNever help the cops. This includes never talking to the cops. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik -- Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08fZQWjDVKE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08fZQWjDVKE -- Part 2
- colomon 16y agoThanks for the reminder.
- 1010011010 16y agoIt's like preaching the gospel.
- colomon 16y agoOne point which I haven't seen come up in any discussion of this: Michigan now prohibits texting while driving. So at least in theory, checking your cell phone could determine whether or not you were violating this. I wouldn't be surprised if that is a major part of the justification for this. Of course, even that wouldn't justify anything but getting your last few minutes of chat log off the phone...