*Genius*
Prime VIP
ueensland authorities have found themselves in trouble after having seized a journalist’s iPad over accusations that the device contained evidence in a cybercrime case.
A security researcher has sent a stolen photo from a Facebook account to Ben Grubb, a journalist, as a proof of the hack. As a result, the device which belongs to the journalist was seized during the search for evidence of the case. However, iPad has already been returned to the owner.
The reason of the quick return seems to lie in the lively discussion of the case in the Internet. Aside from the industry observers and legal specialists, criminal law specialists have probably also warned the police that seizure of such device as an iPad as evidence of a potential crime equals to taking a shorthand notebook. The only difference is that the iPad can not do that much.
The matter is that in plenty of countries the journalist's shorthand notebook is considered sacred under law thanks to its content, which includes the private phone numbers, record notes, psychologically disturbing doodles and shopping lists. In most cases, if the police want to seize a shorthand notebook, they have to obtain a court order and accomplish lots of other formalities to do so. But in this case, Queensland police simply arrested the journalists and demanded that he handed the iPad over.
Terry O'Gorman, the president of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, explained that Ben Grubb was a journalist holding legitimately privileged data. Therefore, he could have refused the authorities access to his digital device. In such turn of events, his iPad under accepted protocol would have been sealed and lodged with the local magistrate court up to the moment of the authorities receiving a proper court order to access the iPad.
According to O'Gorman, there have been actually too many of iPads and iPhones seizures by the authorities. Most of them were successful only because people are unaware of their right to resist the seizure. That’s why the police keep doing that without consequences.
Now, when the Grubb case captured the headlines, the issue is scrutinized all over the world, and there have been even calls from the legal specialists for police to give the journalist a full apology.
A security researcher has sent a stolen photo from a Facebook account to Ben Grubb, a journalist, as a proof of the hack. As a result, the device which belongs to the journalist was seized during the search for evidence of the case. However, iPad has already been returned to the owner.
The reason of the quick return seems to lie in the lively discussion of the case in the Internet. Aside from the industry observers and legal specialists, criminal law specialists have probably also warned the police that seizure of such device as an iPad as evidence of a potential crime equals to taking a shorthand notebook. The only difference is that the iPad can not do that much.
The matter is that in plenty of countries the journalist's shorthand notebook is considered sacred under law thanks to its content, which includes the private phone numbers, record notes, psychologically disturbing doodles and shopping lists. In most cases, if the police want to seize a shorthand notebook, they have to obtain a court order and accomplish lots of other formalities to do so. But in this case, Queensland police simply arrested the journalists and demanded that he handed the iPad over.
Terry O'Gorman, the president of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, explained that Ben Grubb was a journalist holding legitimately privileged data. Therefore, he could have refused the authorities access to his digital device. In such turn of events, his iPad under accepted protocol would have been sealed and lodged with the local magistrate court up to the moment of the authorities receiving a proper court order to access the iPad.
According to O'Gorman, there have been actually too many of iPads and iPhones seizures by the authorities. Most of them were successful only because people are unaware of their right to resist the seizure. That’s why the police keep doing that without consequences.
Now, when the Grubb case captured the headlines, the issue is scrutinized all over the world, and there have been even calls from the legal specialists for police to give the journalist a full apology.
