And what if I have an encrypted phone? Can I be compelled to turn over my password? Or my thumbprint? If I use the equivalent of a dead man's switch that wipes my phone if law enforcement tries unsuccessfully to get in, what then?<p>There may be case law that covers this, but I am genuinely curious.
The HN title matches the article title, but it's somewhat misleading. The court actually ruled that the particular case before it was <i>not</i> a legal search, and that cellphone searches are only allowed under specific circumstances.<p>It looks to me as though the circumstances are a bit too broad, but it's not as though Canadian police will suddenly be allowed to search the cellphones of everyone they arrest.
It's a win/lose for privacy in Canada.<p>Obviously, giving officers the ability to search phones without a warrant is a bit troubling. However, the Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear that phones without pass-codes still contain intensely private information, and thus are still subject to privacy implications. It's just unfortunate that this bit narrowly passed. (4-3)<p>> An individual’s decision not to password protect his or her cell phone does not indicate any sort of abandonment of the significant privacy interests one generally will have in the contents of the phone. Cell phones – locked or unlocked – engage significant privacy interests.
- The majority ruling's statement[0]<p>[0] <a href="http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2014/12/supreme-courts-privacy-streak-comes-end-split-court-affirms-legality-warrantless-phone-searches-incident-arrest/" rel="nofollow">http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2014/12/supreme-courts-privacy-st...</a>
><i>The Supreme Court of Canada says law enforcement officials can go through the cellphone of someone under arrest as long as the search relates directly to the arrest and police keep detailed notes.</i><p>Fair enough. Now how do they plan on enforcing these rules?
If law enforcement has sufficient cause to arrest someone, then getting a search warrant after the arrest should be easy.<p>If it wasn't easy to obtain such warrants then either <i>that</i> aspect of judiciary or policy needed changing, or else it wasn't easy for a good reason!<p>This decision does not address (or change) whether one can be compelled to reveal a password-locked phone in Canada. At least one Canadian Civil Liberties Association suggests this decision this raises more questions than it answers. <a href="https://twitter.com/bccla/status/543124869240471552" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/bccla/status/543124869240471552</a>