http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/26/op...duJvGowqvAkrFA

IMO, sensible ruling.
Disturbing that the ruling was 4-3. It should have been unanimous.

Since most higher tech phones have some sort of "lock" capability requiring a password for access, if somebody wanted to prevent access in a state they weren't sure of the existing rules on, they could simply set up a password to unlock the phone before use.
A person can still give a fifth amendment right to not give a snoopy policeman the password.

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Republicans have a sweet racket because they run on "government is ineffective," and then when they **** things up, they go, "See." – Bill Maher

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist."
--Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara

I have to agree with you on this, but what about someone who is in an accident, and thier emergency contact information is in their cell phone? Will this still apply?

This could hit a gray area, if someone is, lets say, injured during a drug raid or something.

I have some emergency info in my cell phone, but I also wear an medical ID, and carry a card in my wallet, but not everyone does.

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"I rather be part of the doing, than being done unto."

I think intent has a lot to do with it.
If a cop is responding to an emergency situation and happens to notice something illegal in your apartment, that's one thing.

If a cop is simply wanting to enter your apartment to check for illegalities, that's quite another.

The parallel should extend to other issues like cell phones.

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Republicans have a sweet racket because they run on "government is ineffective," and then when they **** things up, they go, "See." – Bill Maher

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist."
--Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara

If this is made into law, the SMART cell phone manufacturers will have a function that allows the phone owner to set up emergency contact info on thier phone that's easily available, while still protecting the rest of thier information.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

Giving a liberal facts is like throwing bacon at a vegetarian. All it does it piss off the vegetarian and waste good bacon.

I actually do have a specific entry that came with the phone, preset, you just change the info known as In Case of Emergency and it has a big red X next to it.

But it does require getting into my phone.....

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"I rather be part of the doing, than being done unto."

I guess I didn't make my idea very clear. I'm talking about a standard function that allows EMS/LE access to your emeergency info. and nothing else. Possibly a preset key sequence or on-screen icon (for touch screens) that displays the info.

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Our nation has not always lived up to its ideals, yet those ideals have never ceased to guide us. They expose our flaws, and lead us to mend them. We are the beneficiaries of the work of the generations before us and it is each generation's responsibility to continue that work. - Laura Bush

Giving a liberal facts is like throwing bacon at a vegetarian. All it does it piss off the vegetarian and waste good bacon.

Understood! And I agree, I was merely noting what my phone currently provides.... sorry for the confusion.

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"I rather be part of the doing, than being done unto."

For the police ya. But our NSA can snatch right out of the airwaver any call that uses any of the key words they have to monitor. Cell calls are the easiest.

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All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. - Samuel Johnson.. (1709 - 1784) Faith is what mine is built upon..

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)