Phones are more private than houses – so they shouldn’t be easier to search

In R v Fearon, a majority of the Supreme Court of Canada decided that police can search the contents of your cellphone as long as the search is ‘truly incidental’ to a lawful arrest and is tailored to the reason for the arrest.
(Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

What exactly does “truly incidental” mean? Canadian law is plagued by this type of ambiguous language. I’m skeptical whether the Supreme Court Judges possess the technical vocabulary to understand the implications of their decision. What is the problem with requiring investigators to obtain a warrant?

From The Globe and Mail – “Last month, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that police do not need a warrant to search the contents of your cellphone. In R v Fearon, a majority of the court decided that police can search the contents of your cellphone as long as the search is “truly incidental” to a lawful arrest and is tailored to the reason for the arrest.”

Read the full article – The Globe and Mail – Phones are more private than houses – so they shouldn’t be easier to search

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Magic Bullet Links Teen Pregnancy to iPhone Location-Tracking

Obama sees no magic bullet to push down gas prices – via Reuters.com – Well, let’s see…It’s easy to TALK about energy independence, but where will the money come from?  Oh, I know!  Stop spending HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS fighting multiple wars and invest a bit into infrastructure, education, and research into domestic energy sources.

Washington teen fakes pregnancy as school project – via Yahoo! News – Not only is this a great prank, it also must have taken a lot of courage for this girl to voluntarily subject herself to the social stigma that goes along with teen pregnancy, all for a social experiment.  I hope she got an “A” on her project.

Why You Should Care About the iPhone Location-Tracking Issue – via Wired Gadget Lab – While this issue is being somewhat blown out of proportion, I still feel it’s necessary to call attention to it.  If you use a cell phone at all, you need to be aware that data about your location could be collected.  Whether or not you’re interesting enough for anybody to give a shit where you go and when you’re there is debatable, but that doesn’t change the fact that this data is immensely valuable.  It boils down to this:  Never assume you are invisible or anonymous.
Now, storing a database with your whole location history in an unencrypted file right on the mobile device AND the computer you connect it to is not only bad data management, it’s also a horrible practice from a security standpoint as well.  At a minimum I expect Apple will cover their ass and add an option to opt out of the location tracking, or at least add an option to wipe the data every so often.

Gratuitous Linkage – 2010-11-21

To Thwart Distracted Driving, US Government Considers Cell Phone Jammers in Cars – via PopSci.com – The Nanny-state is in full swing these days.  Some jack-holes just can’t resist yacking on the phone while driving, so let’s put a jammer in every car.  Nevermind the fact that this would also inhibit passengers from using a phone and could also stop a driver from calling for help in the event of an emergency.  I can’t see this actually happening, but the fact that anyone is even considering it is evidence of a head up an ass.

Distressed Toddler Gets a TSA Pat Down – via RawJustice.com – This whole body scanner/enhanced pat down business is far from over.  Judging from this story and others like it that are pouring in from all over it looks like the bogeyman terrorists have won.  People have gone to jail for touching children like this, but since it’s sanctioned by the government I guess it’s OK, right?

Life in the New Linkocracy – 2010-10-21

Creationism lives on in US public schools – via NewScientist.com – Creationism, or “Intelligent Design” as it has more recently been rebranded, has no business being taught in our school systems alongside evolution.  The treatment of creationism as a legitimate scientific theory is an offence to scientific principle.  There is empirical data to back up evolutionary theory.  The collection and interpretation of that data is how the theory was developed in the first place.  There is no such support of “Intelligent Design” anywhere.  What people choose to teach their own children at home is their business, even if it’s hocus-pocus nonsense.  In a school system where other people’s children are being taught the same things only facts and theories that can be backed up with actual science should be taught.

First All-Digital Science Textbook Will Be Free – via Wired.com – This is a fantastic idea that will unfortunately be extremely difficult to get off the ground.  Producing a book of this kind and keeping it up to date will undoubtedly prove to be extremely expensive, so “free” is unlikely to work.  Not to mention the resistance it will encounter from people responsible for choosing textbooks who have been getting kickbacks from publishing companies for years.  I hope this takes off, as it would remove a substantial financial burden from college and university students.  I spent less on the new laptop I bought a couple months ago than I spent on books in one semester when I was in college, and textbook prices don’t go anywhere but up.

Pilot refuses full-body scan, pat-down – via CNN.com – All of the privacy issues aside, folks…he’s a pilot.  If he wants to take over the plane he’s already in the cockpit BEHIND A LOCKED FUCKING DOOR!

How to opt out of the TSA’s naked body scanners at the airport – via NaturalNews.com – This one is not so much a “how to” as it is a description of what happens when you decide not to subject yourself to the backscatter or millimetre wave x-ray machines and go for the “enhanced pat-down” the pilot in the previous article refused.

U.A.E. defends no-marks discipline ruling – via CBC.ca – In the United Arab Emirates, they can build the shit out of some skyscrapers, but their human rights policies are fucking stone age.  Considering it’s possible to break ribs and cause internal bleeding without ever leaving a visible external mark, the concept of being able to beat your wife or children as long as you don’t leave a mark is absurd.

Allow Students to Carry Guns on College Campuses? – via AmericanFreePress.net – “Freedom to be safe and secure is a fundamental human right.  If someone threatens to harm or kill you or your loved ones, you have the right to defend yourself.  Carrying a firearm aides in facilitating this self defence.” said the guy who lives in Canada, where law abiding citizens can only own handguns for target shooting and it is essentially impossible to get a concealed weapon permit.

Morality and the Apocalinks – 2010-10-19

Morality: Don’t be afraid – science can make us better – via NewScientist.com – While I don’t agree with the insinuation made by the author that “economic prosperity” is a suitable moral guide, I do enjoy a good debate on the subject.  “Economic prosperity”, or as it’s better known, “Making a shit-ton of money” is one of the primary causes (if not the main cause) that people abandon morals that would otherwise preclude them from doing something.  I’d like to see more research on the “morality as an evolutionary response” theme mentioned in this article.  Better living through technology, I say!

Popular Facebook apps found to be collecting, selling user info – via ArsTechnica.com – Surprise, surprise!  Most of those “FREE!” apps and games you’ve been using on Facebook have been mining and selling off your personal data.  Unfortunately most people would sell their soul for a free cheeseburger, so I don’t expect many people to care.

Surviving the Apocalypse Hollywood Style – via Wired.com – Everything I know about surviving the end of the world I learned from movies.  This one breaks it down by sub-genre:  Virus/Nuclear, Natural Disaster, Alien Invasion, Authoritarian Distopia.  For anyone concerned, the Zombie Apocalypse falls under the Virus/Nuclear category.