FAYETTEVILLE — The same legal definitions that allow police to search pockets of people arrested or held for minor offenses allow collection of extensive personal information from smartphones, according to a discussion on the Bill of Rights at a forum in Fayetteville on Sunday.
"Everything in your life can be reached from your cellphone," said Laurent Sacharoff, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law. "You can log into your bank account from your cellphone."
State lawmakers have the power to stop much wide-ranging seizure of information, Sacharoff said. Sacharoff was one of four panelists at the discussion, hosted by the Northwest Arkansas Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Tom Kennedy of Fayetteville, chairman of the board of the ACLU's Northwest Arkansas chapter, and Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, have organized such forums for years. Their purpose is to bring liberals and conservatives together for open but civil debates on issues that have ranged from guns on the university campus to civil rights. The forums have continued even though "I still don't agree with practically anything Charlie says," Kennedy joked Sunday. This latest panel included Collins, Kennedy, Sacharoff and Jason Cline, state director of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group that supports free-market policies and limited government.
Despite their difference in overall political views, panel members agreed that the power and ability of the government to seize personal information has gone too far.
"We praise the founding fathers for a lot of things, but calling in on an iPhone is something they didn't do," Cline said. Laws need to be updated to protect personal liberty, he said.
State level law can be effective, Sacharoff said. Much of the information collected is by local law enforcement agencies. The practice has become so popular, "the FBI has set up kiosks where local agencies can bring cellphones and download anything on them," Sacharoff said. Technology also allows collection of DNA evidence from, for instance, "a water bottle you use then throw away," he said.
State law could stop such collection by local agencies and possibly stop, or at least curtail, collection by federal agencies, he said. Federal agencies are required to follow state law unless they have a clear-cut federal law that overrides it, he said.
If someone is not doing anything wrong, what does he have to fear from a search, an audience member asked. If a search is wide-ranging enough and the data collected is massive enough, something that at least appears to be incriminating can be found on almost anyone, Cline replied. Also, people have a right to privacy until and unless there is a specific reason that justifies a search, several panelists said. Seizures such as cellphone data are a new interpretation of laws that allow the searching of persons in custody, and that interpretation will be heard in a case coming before the U.S. Supreme Court in April.
"If the rights of anyone can be violated, the rights of everyone can be violated," Kennedy said.
NW News on 03/17/2014