The American Civil Liberties Union is accusing the Michigan State Police of using mobile phone extraction devices on people that they pull over. Those devices can snag personal and sensitive data stored on your mobile phone without you even knowing. Scary.
The problem right now is that no one knows the extent of what the Michigan State Police is extracting and storing, or even why. When the Michigan branch of the ACLU tried to obtain the information via a FOIA request, the Michigan Police responded saying it would cost $US500,000 to process such a request. Which is ridiculous! Who will police the police if we’re not allowed to?
The national ACLU has also asked similar questions about the Department of Homeland Security’s use of extraction devices on travelers’ computers and mobile phones but to no avail either. Both of these accusations against these government agencies are not comforting and quite possibly a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Hopefully the government officials will clear up just what the hell is going on here. Watch the news report here. [Click on Detroit]