US court: phones should not be searched just like that

The American police are not allowed to search telephones without a judge’s permission. That is what the US Supreme Court has ruled. According to the police, a telephone is like any other object, but the court disagrees.

Until now, US police searched detainees’ phones without first requesting a court order, but the Supreme Court, the highest US court, says that’s not acceptable. “Smartphones are not like any other technological convenience,” said the court’s chief justice, John Roberts. That writes MSNBC.

According to Roberts, phones contain the private data of many Americans and must therefore be covered by US constitutional protections for “unreasonable searches.” “What the police should do before a detainee’s phone is searched is simple: ask for a court order,” Roberts said.

The court ruled in two cases brought by detainees whose telephones had been searched. One of the two cases involved someone suspected of taking part in a shooting; the other was suspected of crimes related to drugs and weapons possession.