Michigan Police Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops

In the category of “are-you-f-ing-kidding-me” news, the Michigan State Police apparently have a high-tech device that can be used to download information from your cell phones and they’re using it even on minor traffic violations. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan has demanded that state officials stop stonewalling freedom of information requests for information on the program.

“Complete extraction of existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags,” a CelleBrite brochure explains regarding the device’s capabilities. “The Physical Analyzer allows visualization of both existing and deleted locations on Google Earth. In addition, location information from GPS devices and image geotags can be mapped on Google Maps.”

So that’s all your data.  Hidden data.  Deleted Data.  Everything.

The ACLU is concerned that these powerful capabilities are being quietly used to bypass Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

Read more at thenewspaper.com

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UPDATE:   The Michigan State Police Public Affairs Twitter account sent us this link to their press release disputing the story found on thenewspaper.com regarding their use of Data Extraction Devices.  http://www.michigan.gov/msp/0,1607,7-123-1586-254783–,00.html

The press release denies claims that the Michigan State Police only use the DEDs if a search warrant is obtained or if the person possessing the mobile device gives consent. The department’s internal directive is that the DEDs only be used by MSP specialty teams on criminal cases, such as crimes against children.

They also claim that the DEDs are not being used to extract citizens’ personal information during routine traffic stops.