Here we go! I’m inching closer to becoming a modern Ray Bradbury or Asimov with my futurist predictions (did they have huge ego’s as well? That is crucial for the comparison). Anyway, as a follow up to my last post on anti-texting checkpoints, Michigan has gone one step further. Some brief background. While in law school, I came up with a theory during a discussion on the Fourth Amendment and American’s seeming willingness to ignore when they’re sold a safety argument. The theory was that eventually, we’ll be searched at checkpoints to see if we had been recently texting anyone because we all know that texting is the most dangerous threat to society since having children in the car misbehaving.
Now, as reported by the Newspaper, LA Times, ACLU, and numerous others, Michigan has been extracting data from cell phones during traffic stops using a device that can record an entire device in 90 seconds. Because clearly, when the founding fathers spoke of the right to be secure in your persons, papers, and effects, they meant only those things written on hemp with a quill pen. And as the government has made clear, digital technology is so magical and mysterious it clearly is not subject to the laws as we understand them, therefore no laws apply.
There’s not much else to say. There are lawsuits pending, and there will be motorists told if they’ve got nothing to hide, then they don’t mind giving up all their rights. I just hope I passed the bar so when I eventually refuse to let someone search my phone, I won’t have to shell out tons of cash just to defend one of my fundamental rights.
Tags: Asinine, Fourth Amendment
