Police entitled to search cell phones AFTER arrest

[TeasePlease]

While this judgment doesn't give carte blanche access to our cell phones, it's certainly enough to worry about as hobbyists. Many of use our phones to email or txt SPs to arrange appointments, including inquiries about rates and services. Think twice....

Hot off the presses - SCC decision today on warrantless searches of personal cell phones

http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/14502/index.do


Narrative from the Star

"Cromwell said the police don’t have “licence to rummage around in the device at will.” He set out four conditions to ensure warrantless searches of a suspect’s cellphone meet constitutional muster: the arrest must be lawful in the first place, the search on any cellphone found must take place promptly, the extent of the cellphone search must be “tailored” to the law enforcement objective (meaning, the court said, police should look at only recently sent or drafted emails, texts, photos and the call log). Finally, the police must take “detailed notes” of what they looked at and for how long — in order to aid courts to later rule whether the search was justified."


http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/..._police_to_search_cellphones_upon_arrest.html

 

[dirkd101]

This is disturbing.

 

[goalie000]

So I guess everyone will have their phones password locked now!

 

[bobcat40]

If the police follow the letter of the ruling to only conduct a cursory inspection of the phone (i.e the most recent few txts and numbers called), I can see how the ruling is justified. The problem is that this is way too subjective and undoubtedly this power will be abused by police. Police will just search through every byte of data on the phone and say it was necessary to potentially stop some serious crime. The issue with this is the invasion of privacy but also the fact that if you fished through everyone's phone very thoroughly you could find evidence of other crimes which becomes an issue of out of control police powers.

 

[asian_sampler]

There is always a piece of the story missing!

They can only search your phone if they have reason to believe you are a threat to public safety.

 

[italianguy74]

Password: nosey pig

 

[GPIDEAL]

This is disturbing.

What's really disturbing is this: A john might delete text messages, however, an SP might not do so quickly due to "immunity from prosecution".

HOWEVER, the scope of offences of explicit advertising OR material benefit includes SPs, which means if there's good reason for a cop to arrest an SP based on those offences, they can search her phone being incidental to the arrest for the preservation of evidence such as a text message confirming a booking by a john.


(Note: I will submit a question to a rep of the SPOC on how the immunity provisions might affect the likelihood of an arrest or charge, and include this new aspect of legal searches).

 

[GPIDEAL]

There is always a piece of the story missing!

They can only search your phone if they have reason to believe you are a threat to public safety.

Nope. As long as the arrest is lawful, they can search your phone. So if they think you communicated with an SP or paid her, they can arrest you and search your phone.

 

[TeasePlease]

So I guess everyone will have their phones password locked now!

You should have your phone password locked anyways. But they will be entitled to ask you to unlock it. You can refuse, in which case they can seize the phone and send it to their own lab for unlock/decryption.

This actually makes a compelling case to go back to Blackberry. When I get nervous, I can't type on those tiny keys. I keep entering the wrong password...ooops. Data wipe triggered.

There is always a piece of the story missing!

They can only search your phone if they have reason to believe you are a threat to public safety.

Dude, how much more of a safety threat do you want than suspected trafficking? Isn't that the top of the priority list, even for the LE who have expressed no interest in prosecuting johns?

Btw, if you read the SCC decision, you can get a pretty good sense of the circumstances and how this went down.

 

[doggystyle99]

What's really disturbing is this: A john might delete text messages, however, an SP might not do so quickly due to "immunity from prosecution".

HOWEVER, the scope of offences of explicit advertising OR material benefit includes SPs, which means if there's good reason for a cop to arrest an SP based on those offences, they can search her phone being incidental to the arrest for the preservation of evidence such as a text message confirming a booking by a john.


(Note: I will submit a question to a rep of the SPOC on how the immunity provisions might affect the likelihood of an arrest or charge, and include this new aspect of legal searches).

This is the exact reason why I keep saying never contact SP's through text or emails.
I will never see an sp who wants to communicate through texts or emails as there would be a specific trail of paying for services. If an SP is arrested for "living of the avails of prostitution" or "operating a bawdy house" which both are still illegal, then the phone is searched by cops and text are seen for paying for services regardless of if any services are discussed in detail or not chances are the police will want to talk to you in regards to it. And to all the people with SO's good luck explaining that.

 

[userz]

You should have your phone password locked anyways. But they will be entitled to ask you to unlock it. You can refuse, in which case they can seize the phone and send it to their own lab for unlock/decryption.

This actually makes a compelling case to go back to Blackberry. When I get nervous, I can't type on those tiny keys. I keep entering the wrong password...ooops. Data wipe triggered.




Dude, how much more of a safety threat do you want than suspected trafficking? Isn't that the top of the priority list, even for the LE who have expressed no interest in prosecuting johns?

Btw, if you read the SCC decision, you can get a pretty good sense of the circumstances and how this went down.

I started a thread about this decision yesterday... Now, as for the police, you assume they have no interest in prosecuting johns, but only time will tell.

 

[legmann]

If at all possible, make sure to not have your phone on you while you are at, or leaving, a session.
Even if your lady 'friend' has not deleted cal/text logs on her phone, it will be much harder to tie any of that to you if you do not have a phone with you for police to compare.
(This assumes you are using an anonymous, untraceable hobby phone.)

 

[TeasePlease]

I started a thread about this decision yesterday... Now, as for the police, you assume they have no interest in prosecuting johns, but only time will tell.

I agree, but various municipalities and Chiefs of police have expressed such sentiment.

Plus, some members on terb take great offence if anyone even hints at C36 enforcement. It's like you punched their grandmother in the vagina.

 

[TeasePlease]

From today's Star:

"But imagine being arrested for hiring a prostitute. Under this ruling, the police would have the right to look at your sexual history via your cellphone, the things you haven’t even done yet. Your previous attempts to hire “young Asians” via NOW magazine ads would surely be germane. Your affairs and your sexual tastes would be under scrutiny and found wanting."

http://t.thestar.com/#/article/opinion/commentary/2014/12/14/court_ruling_on_cellphones_ravages_privacy_mallick.html

 

[dirkd101]

I agree, but various municipalities and Chiefs of police have expressed such sentiment.

Plus, some members on terb take great offence if anyone even hints at C36 enforcement. It's like you punched their grandmother in the vagina.

That's got to be the best line of the week and is an accurate assessment.

 

[legmann]

If people are genuinely concerned, hire a lawyer for an hour and ask all the pertinent questions.

Amen. I 'suggested' the same thing months ago. The only possible snag is the validity of any legal advice given being entirely dependent on the individual lawyer providing it, especially as these laws are as yet untested. (Kind of like doctors - ask 10 different specialists, get 10 different opinions)

 

[piratepete]

I urge everyone to encrypt their phones. You can easily do it on android phones and iphones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYcqo5CEKgI

 

[solidness]

You own the phone right! Easy, just step on the fucking thing!

Done no more problems!

 

[legmann]

You own the phone right! Easy, just step on the fucking thing!

Done no more problems!

Yep, I've no problem 'accidentally' dropping my phone into the toilet if need be.... Lol
The phone itself will short, and I'm hoping exposure will render the SIM card useless.

 

[TeasePlease]

I urge everyone to encrypt their phones. You can easily do it on android phones and iphones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYcqo5CEKgI

If they really want the data, they'll just seize your phone and send it to Ottawa. They can hack it. In fact, there's a private firm in Toronto that can hack blackberry phones. They use the same software as the feds.