Microsoft has found itself at the center of an intense legal battle regarding the ability of the United States Government to subpoena data stored abroad. In addition to drawing the attention of constitutional law scholars, tech companies, and lawmakers, the case should also concern private citizens as well.
No provision of the Bill of Rights has had a greater impact upon NY State criminal procedure than the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment governs searches and seizure conducted by federal and state governmental officers. In our country, searches of an individuals’ private property may only be performed after a search warrant is signed by a judge. An exception to this rule is when an individual gives the police valid consent to search their property. This can pertain to anything, including a persons’ home, car, phone or handbag. Keep in mind that the prosecution has a heavy burden of establishing that someone consented and that it was voluntarily given. That was the exact issue that presented itself in United States v. Whisenton, a recent Court of Appeals case out of the 8th Circuit.
The Fourth Amendment protects individuals against unreasonable searches and seizures.
While video cameras on cell phones are hardly breaking technology, video recordings of police officers using a banned choke-hold technique have been everywhere lately. Cell phone videos have surfaced of Eric Garner of Staten Island suffering a fatal heart attack after an officer used the choke-hold and knocked him to the ground, as well as an incident in East Harlem depicting an officer using the move to restrain an individual who was later charged with turnstile-jumping, and a third video showing an officer in Brooklyn supposedly using the choke-hold on a woman who was accused of illegally grilling on the sidewalk.