Search Warrants in the Digital Age
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SEARCH WARRANTS IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Yuval Simchi-Levi*
L INTRODUCTION
Digital devices and social media are a major part of American
society, given the increasing use of smart phones. Chief Justice John
Roberts observed that such cell phones are so prevalent in society that
the proverbial visitor from Mars [would] conclude that they were an
important feature of human anatomy.' One study estimated that seven-
in-ten Americans use social media to connect with one another ....
This is not surprising considering that in 2016, eighty-one percent of all
cell phones in the United States were smartphones.3
Given the ubiquity of social media and digital storage devices' in
American society, criminals, witnesses, and victims are likely to have
social media accounts as well as cell phones. It should be obvious that
today, digital storage devices and social media accounts contain a trove
of evidence necessary to investigate and prosecute almost any crime.
Whenever there 'is a mass shooting in the United States, it is almost
reflexive for law enforcement and the media simply to look at the public
postings on the perpetrator's social media to determine the motive for
the tragedy.' As one journalist wrote, social media is often the best way
* Yuval Simchi-Levi is an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District
Attorney's Office. The views expressed in this Article are his own. The Author wishes to thank
Timothy C. Stone for his valuable comments and insight.
1. Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373, 385 (2014).
2. Social Media Fact Sheet, PEW RES. CTR. (Feb. 5, 2018), http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-
sheet/social-media.
3. Tessa Jolls & Michele Johnsen, Media Literacy: A Foundational Skill for Democracy in
the 21st Century, 69 HASTINGS L.J. 1379, 1404 (2018).
4. In this Article, I refer to digital storage devices in a broad sense to refer to devices that
contain digital evidence, such as cell phones, computers, laptops, iPads, and flash drives. See, e.g.,
Orin S. Kerr, Executing Warrants for Digital Evidence: The Case for Use Restrictions on
Nonresponsive Data, 48 TEx. TECH. L. REv. 1, 2 n.1, 12 (2015).
5. Jonathan Mahler & Julie Turkewitz, Ex-Soldier with a Troubled Past and an Interest in
Black Power Groups, N.Y. TIMES, July 9, 2016, at A13, https://www.nytimes.com/
995](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/hoflr47&div=43&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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