Two recent court decisions by the Southern District of Georgia and the Southern District of Florida came to two different conclusions on whether police should be able to search handheld devices such as mobile phones as an incident of arrest. The issue came down to whether handheld devices should be treated as traditional “containers” under the law. On December 22nd, U.S. District Judge William Zloch ruled in a case involving a drug bust where a DEA agent examined the defendant’s two cell phones during the booking process. The Southern District of Florida judge found that the evidence obtained from the search should be suppressed because the search was not incident to lawful arrest, as it took place during booking. Judge Zloch also found that the DEA agent lied when he said that he conducted the search to ensure the text messages would not expire, as the real reason was to find incriminating evidence. The search required a warrant because “searching through information stores on a cell phone is analogous to a search of a sealed letter, which requires a warrant.” But Judge B. Avant Edenfield of the Southern District of Georgia disagreed in a similar case decided on January 5th. In that case, police responded to a call about a parked car and scrolled through the photos on the cell phone of the driver and found images of what appeared to be a fourteen-year-old girl in lewd poses. The driver was charged with possession of child pornography. Judge Edenfield ruled that the evidence was admissible, because the cell phone was a container found on the driver’s person, as part of a search incident to lawful arrest. The split highlights the issue of whether cell phones are like physical containers or are entitled to more protection because of the uniquely personal nature of the contents. The story initially reported by Cnet may be found at http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10140373-38.html