You are viewing an archived webpage. The information on this page may be out of date. Learn about EPIC's recent work at epic.org.

Supreme Court to Hear Cell Phone Privacy Cases

The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments next week in two cases concerning the warrantless search of a cell phone following an arrest. EPIC filed a "friend of the court" brief, signed by twenty-four technical experts and legal scholars, arguing that the Fourth Amendment requires a warrant because of the vast amount of personal information available on a cellphone. EPIC wrote, "Allowing police officers to search a person's cell phone without a warrant following an arrest would be a substantial infringement on privacy, is unnecessary, and unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment." Also the Supreme Court this week agreed to review a case considering whether the police may detain a person based on a mistaken interpretation of the law. In Heien v. North Carolina, the person was detained by the police because of a broken taillight. EPIC routinely files amicus briefs in cases raising novel privacy issues. For more information, see EPIC: Riley v. California and EPIC: Amicus Curiae Briefs.


« Amid Privacy Backlash, Student Data Firm Dissolves | Main | Tech Standard Dropped Because of Suspected NSA Influence »

Share this page:

Defend Privacy. Support EPIC.
US Needs a Data Protection Agency
2020 Election Security