The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that police did not need a warrant for a search of a cellphone. In the case, U.S. v. Flores-Lopez, the search was limited to the phone number of the cell phone, which the court analogize as similar to looking for an address in the first page of an address book.
A Container, a Computer and a Phone
The government argued that searches of containers are permissible incident to an arrest, and that police may examine the contents of the container without a warrant.
Judge Posner indicated that a phone, being in essence, a computer, is a container, but it contains far more personal information than, say, a traditional paper diary.
With an Internet connection, the court explained how one could use a smart phone to view into the bedroom of a suspect, were the phone so enabled.
This creates a potential risk of a Fourth Amendment violation. In this case, however, limited by the fact that all the police did obtain was the phone number of the phone, the actual intrusion was minimal.
