Police Don’t Need Search Warrant to Look at Cellphone During Arrest, Supreme Court Rules

It’s always been a good idea to protect your phone’s lockscreen with a password. Now it’s more important than ever. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that police, as long as they meet certain conditions, do not need a search warrant to look at the contents of a suspect’s smartphone during an arrest.

The court ruled that cellphones are more equivalent to other handheld personals, such as wallets and purses, as opposed to personal computers like desktops and laptops, according to The Globe and Mail, even though the Canadian Civil Liberties Association argues that “searching the contents of a cellphone is not akin to a frisk search or search of a vehicle; the capacity to discover private information is exponentially greater.”