10. October 2011 · Comments Off on California Governor Vetoes Bill Requiring Warrant to Search Mobile Phones | Threat Level | Wired.com · Categories: blog · Tags: ,

California Governor Vetoes Bill Requiring Warrant to Search Mobile Phones | Threat Level | Wired.com.

California Gov. Jerry Brown is vetoing legislation requiring police to obtain a court warrant to search the mobile phones of suspects at the time of any arrest.

The Sunday veto means that when police arrest anybody in the Golden State, they may search that person’s mobile phone — which in the digital age likely means the contents of persons’ e-mail, call records, text messages, photos, banking activity, cloud-storage services, and even where the phone has traveled.

My question is, what if you password protect your phone? Must you give the police the password? Would that not be akin to incriminating yourself? In other words, could you refuse to give the police the password to your phone on the grounds of 5th Amendment protection?