Posted by Samar Baeshen.
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads” The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” The amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and requires the police to have a warrant. However, there are a considerable amount of debate of whether the cell phones of people who are arrested can be searched without having a warrant.
According to an October 21, 2015 news article in the NBC news, “Feds detail how they secretly track Americans’ phones.” In a testimony, some long-concerns about how Feds utilize secret devices to track Americans ‘cell phones were clarified by Federal law enforcement officials. Regarding the secret devices, for many years police have been utilizing Stingray device which connects someone’s phone with cell phone towers.
Congress has been informed that Stingray devices are not using to track calls or messages but to locate someone. Moreover, new rules have been issued by the Department of Justice regarding the lack of warrants of tracking cell phones. However, agency officials confirmed that there are some situations do not require warrants. Therefore, many arguments have been raised that Americans’ phones ought to be protected according to their Fourth Amendment rights.
Lastly, according to ACLU technologist Christopher Soghoian, the nation’s leading expert on Stingrays, the FBI has begun using the device for almost 20 years, and this is the first congressional hearing. The agreements about Stingrays between the FBI and local police are secret. However, due to the legal battles led by the American Civil Liberties Union this becomes public.
Samar is a graduate student in accounting at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University.