Cell Phones - Subject to Warrantless Search?

Two years or so ago, I wrote a series of posts about the split in the circuits on an issue of privacy - in that case, GPS surveillance.  (Posts are here, here, and here.)

There is a new issue coming up, which undoubtedly will find its way to the Supreme Court before too long: cell phones.  Circuits (and even courts within the same circuit) have divided on the question of how much privacy it is reasonable to expect where your cell phone is concerned.  The New York Times recently published an article on the issue, which highlights some of the divisions.

For now, courts are trying to apply the 1986 Electronic Communications Act to cell phones, but it's not working too well; technology (and our dependence on our phones) has advanced far ahead of the scope of the law.  A Senate committee will convene this week to consider changes to the law.

As cell phones become more important in our daily lives, they will surely be a go-to source for police officers or investigators looking for information.  But how much access are they allowed without a search warrant?  Voice mails?  Text messages?  Your recorded GPS location?  What if you have your phone screen locked?  Does that give you added protection for your data?  Does the phone company have to alert you if your records are subpoenaed?

No definitive answers yet, but time will tell.

Law School -- Is It Worth It?

This week's Washington Post Magazine has a cover story entitled "Will Law School Students Have Jobs After They Graduate?"  There's a rather simple conclusion (spoiler alert!): no.  Probably the most damning indictment comes from Paul Campos, who has taught at University of Colorado Law School since 1990: "If the federal government applied any actuarial standards, half the law schools would shut down tomorrow.  The whole thing is a basically a giant subsidy machine run for the benefit of legal education."

Ouch.

However, the article investigates some tangential issues that are ripe for discussion:
 - Can the cost of legal education come down?
 - Can (and should) legal education be reformed to make it a more practical, trade school model in which students acquire hard skills rather than ideas?
 - Should students be allowed to borrow the full amount if they have dim prospects careerwise?
 - Should taxpayers be responsible for footing the bill if they can't pay off their loans in 25 years?  (Under the current income-based repayment system, any amount not paid off by the end of 25 years is "forgiven.")

You can read Campos's year-and-a-half old blog, Inside the Law School Scam, for more of his scathing opinions.