If you need another reason to turn on the auto password lock timer on your phone, this is it! The California Supreme court determined through a majority 5-2 decision today that if you are arrested a cop can search the entire contents of your cell phone without a warrant. Justices Kathryn Mickle Werdegar and Carlos Moreno wrote in dissent,

“The potential intrusion on informational privacy involved in a police search of a person‟s mobile phone, smartphone or handheld computer is unique among searches of an arrestee’s person and effects.”

I have to agree with the fact that a cell phone can contain as much information as a full filing cabinet that you would keep in your home. If you need a warrant to open a filing cabinet, then I would argue that you need a warrant to see the contents of the cell phone. And you just know that cops will abuse this and search cell phones before making the decision to arrest you.

The best protection is to turn on encryption and the auto lock timer feature so that your phone locks automatically when not in use. Sure, it’s a pain in the ass to put in your password every single time, but your privacy is worth it in the long run should you ever be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A guy from website zug.com was pissed to find out that phone companies sell our private data to just about anyone.  So, he went to the home of Verizon CEO, stood in front of his lawn, and shouted the following:

“I’m here on behalf of Verizon customers. PLEASE DO A BETTER JOB PROTECTING YOUR CUSTOMERS’ CELL PHONE RECORDS! Everyone has the right to privacy, including you Ivan! When we don’t have privacy, then freaks with bullhorns start showing up on our front lawn.”

Absolutely awesome.  “Can you hear me now!?”  Indeed.  Via BoingBoing.

It’s official, people do not trust Google anymore.  Google is no longer on the list of the 20 most trusted companies due to privacy concerns.  Facebook made the list after completely retooling their website to allow users more control of their profiles over the last year.

Google applications are “free” bacause they collect an ungodly amount of information about you by default.  Hey, I understand that and use their applications extensively; GMail, Google Maps, Search.  But I have gone deep into these applications to disable the most offensive tracking, most people haven’t.

I don’t think that Google is losing any sleep over not being trusted by the general public, since they still think they are going to take over the world.  I wouldn’t be surprised if a Google electric car was in the works right now.  But they probably still need to figure out how the car will report your real time telemetry and location via WiMax.