Is a cell phone a computer?
FEB 17, 2011
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.025065
New Scientist : The answer to that question could have legal implications. Currently, US police need a warrant to search a suspect’s personal home computer, which is protected by the Fourth Amendment. A recent ruling in January allowed police to search a suspect’s cell phone without a warrant—a decision that angered many because cell phones are now so advanced that access to the phone allows almost the same level of insight into one’s life as seizure of a home computer. If a cell phone, and all it contains, is now officially a computer, can this be used as a defense to prevent the authorities seizing it when they carry out a search? No one really knows until it is tested in court, writes Niall Firth for New Scientist, but it is an interesting development and shows how advances in technology can muddle even the clearest of legal matters.
© 2011 American Institute of Physics
