http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/34/3458.asp


ACLU seeks information on Michigan program that allows cops to download information from smart phones belonging to stopped motorists.

The Michigan State Police have a high-tech mobile forensics device that can be used to extract information from cell phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan last Wednesday demanded that state officials stop stonewalling freedom of information requests for information on the program.

ACLU learned that the police had acquired the cell phone scanning devices and in August 2008 filed an official request for records on the program, including logs of how the devices were used. The state police responded by saying they would provide the information only in return for a payment of $544,680. The ACLU found the charge outrageous.

"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, and the Michigan State Police should be willing to assuage concerns that these powerful extraction devices are being used illegally by honoring our requests for cooperation and disclosure."

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.

"Complete extraction of existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags," a CelleBrite brochure explains regarding the device's capabilities. "The Physical Analyzer allows visualization of both existing and deleted locations on Google Earth. In addition, location information from GPS devices and image geotags can be mapped on Google Maps."

The ACLU is concerned that these powerful capabilities are being quietly used to bypass Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

"With certain exceptions that do not apply here, a search cannot occur without a warrant in which a judicial officer determines that there is probable cause to believe that the search will yield evidence of criminal activity," Fancher wrote. "A device that allows immediate, surreptitious intrusion into private data creates enormous risks that troopers will ignore these requirements to the detriment of the constitutional rights of persons whose cell phones are searched."

The national ACLU is currently suing the Department of Homeland Security for its policy of warrantless electronic searches of laptops and cell phones belonging to people entering the country who are not suspected of committing any crime.

it's just this easy:
http://www.cellebrite.com/forensic-p...-tutorial.html

 

Watch out guys, it's another small step towards removing your rights, freedom and liberty. If unchecked, these kinds of things are quietly passed into law, all under the guise of "security" or fighting "crime". One day we'll all wake up and realise that we have no freedom or privacy left anymore... and that day is coming soon!

Be vigilant and fight these intrusions.

 

THIS^^^^^^

Just heard this story on the news this morning. Why would a cop need to search my cell phone because I was speeding or something else completely non-related?

 

A cop would like to search your cellphone in order to further compile a database on you. He (they) would download your phonebook, pictures, videos, contacts, calls made, web history, SIM data, cookies, notes, MMS, instant messages, Bluetooth devices, GPS, Wi-Fi and Cell Tower locations, journeys, GPS Fixes, call logs, text messages, Skype and Facebook contacts and more. It gathers this information and files them into reports. From this they can easily see by entering this information into a database whether you associated or had contact with anyone they deemed undesireable or whether your internet activities broke a law of any kind. They can pinpoint your past locations and exact time there. They can profile you based on your electronic activity and easily see whether you pose a threat, real or perceived. This device can make a clone of your phone including passwords. All this information is power.

Homeland security is using similar devices to scan the laptops of incoming travellers. This is just another step taken by a paranoid government that doesn't trust its own people. Thank God for the ACLU.

 

I wonder if it still works if you turn your phone off

 

I'm sure the cop would just turn it on

 

Good luck getting my cell phone from me.

 

Pull the battery out. They should only be allowed to use this technology if an accident has occurred. Speeding and other stuff should not matter. Pictures off my phone. They don't need that at all. That is plain and simple an invasion of privacy. Michigan residents should protest like hell over it.

 

keep an extra smart phone in your car at all times with nothing but gay **** and pictures of your dick all over it....let them search that ****

 

So John is already good to go