search warrant

A judge says police can't force a suspect to unlock a phone with a fingerprint or other biometric measure, including a suspect's face . It's the latest step in the way privacy laws interact with technological changes. This ruling came from a federal ... judge in a court in California and involved a review of a search warrant request. The case involved two suspects allegedly using Facebook Messenger to trying to extort a victim by threatening to publish an embarrassing video. (Source: gizmodo.com ) The police wanted permission to not only search a location where they believed they would find the ... (view more)

Police have used a suspect's face to unlock a phone for what appears to be the first time. It didn't go quite as planned and is another step in the law adapting to technology. The man in question was suspected of receiving and possessing indecent ... images of children. Police raided his house with a search warrant and discovered he had a phone which was locked. Historically such cases have proven a grey area when it comes to privacy laws and the rights of police. For example, while law enforcement agencies have argued that, as long as they have a court order, accessing a phone or computer is a ... (view more)

The Department of Justice has argued that police have the right to force anyone in a searched property to unlock phones with a fingerprint lock. Lawyers disputing the argument say that would go beyond the reasonable scope of a search warrant. It's ... the latest development in the ongoing development of privacy and search laws as technology evolves . For example, previous cases have concluded that police can't force somebody to provide a passcode or password to unlock a phone, because it would breach the Fifth Amendment's measures on self-incrimination. However, law enforcement ... (view more)