Cops used dead man’s finger in attempt to access his phone

Re:Cops used dead man’s finger in attempt to access his phone by ubernostrum on Saturday April 21, 2018 @09:09PM (#16894230)

In the US, at the moment, only the owner of the phone is legally treated as having a privacy interest in it, and that interest ends at at the moment of death. You can argue for this to change -- and there are reasonable arguments to make for change! -- but right now it's perfectly legal for police to search a dead person's phone without a warrant.

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Re:Cops used dead man’s finger in attempt to access his phone by koolba on Saturday April 21, 2018 @10:14PM (#16894378)

If it’s a lawyers phone I’d expect the clients would have a legal claim to privacy.

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Re:Cops used dead man’s finger in attempt to access his phone by ubernostrum on Sunday April 22, 2018 @06:42AM (#16895579)

Most of these responses are bringing up things where specific information obtained from the phone could be challenged later if someone tried to use it in court. They don't bring up anything that would pre-empt the search of the phone itself, though.

See, for example:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2018/03/22/yes-c...

Choice quote:

And it's entirely legal for police to use the technique, even if there might be some ethical quandaries to consider. Marina Medvin, owner of Medvin Law, said that once a person is deceased, they no longer have a privacy interest in their dead body. That means they no longer have standing in court to assert privacy rights.

Relatives or other interested parties have little chance of stopping cops using fingerprints or other body parts to access smartphones too. "Once you share information with someone, you lose control over how that information is protected and used. You cannot assert your privacy rights when your friend's phone is searched and the police see the messages that you sent to your friend. Same goes for sharing information with the deceased - after you released information to the deceased, you have lost control of privacy," Medvin added.

So, once again: if you're alive, you can assert your Fourth Amendment rights with respect to your phone. Police will need a warrant to search it. Once you're dead, the only person with standing to fight the search on Fourth Amendment grounds is, well, no longer standing. They can search warrantless.

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Re:Cops used dead man’s finger in attempt to access his phone by mgkimsal on Saturday April 21, 2018 @10:33PM (#16894424)

I could also imagine potential HIPAA issues if the device owner was a medical professional.

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Re:Cops used dead man’s finger in attempt to access his phone by dragonwriter on Saturday April 21, 2018 @10:46PM (#16894459)

Other than the potential that the dead owner’s employer might have to give a breach notification, probably not HIPAA issues.

HIPAA restricts what health insurers and providers do with your data, but it doesn't restrict third parties from attempting to get information that the covered entities aren't allowed to give.

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Re:Cops used dead man’s finger in attempt to access his phone by snuxoll on Saturday April 21, 2018 @10:43PM (#16894448)

At the moment of death the phone becomes the property of the estate, it’s not like the police get free reign to your stuff because you are dead.

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Re:Cops used dead man’s finger in attempt to access his phone by ubernostrum on Sunday April 22, 2018 @06:43AM (#16895582)

Police can't claim ownership of your phone. But they certainly can search it. See my reply to the other commenter.

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