By Remi Segal
Staff Writer
In July, the law requiring police officers to have a search warrant in order to search a phone was passed. This law is a step in the right direction to protecting the basic rights of the people while promoting the true notion of American freedom.
This law affects everyone at Costa. Before this law was passed, it was within a cop’s rights to search a person’s phone without his permission. Now, if an officer on campus tries to take a student’s phone, they need a search warrant to be eligible to take and search the phone legally. In one short sentence, the phrase, “No search warrant, no phone,” summarises this law perfectly. In one single word, the word “freedom,” represents this law beautifully.
Not everyone agrees with this law, however. One person who disagrees with this law is math teacher Ms. Collicutt, who states that cops should be able to search the phone of any minor they wish, and that teachers should be able to do this as well. She reasons this can prevent drug deals and even catch cheaters. Schools do restrict certain rights, but they don’t have the power to break federal laws, as they shouldn’t, and searching a student’s phone without his permission is breaking federal law.
Laws stand as moral guidelines for all to abide by, and this law is popular for its ability to uphold the basic rights of the people; protecting the rights to privacy and property. Philosopher John Locke believed in the people’s basic rights to Life, Liberty and Property. This law now defends Locke’s philosophies by protecting our modern property and giving us freedom from illegal search. John Locke was a wise man who set the paveway for modern liberties; and if not for his philosophies, this law may never have been passed.
In the 18th century, Americans traveled to the Americas to gain independence from the tyrannical British. They began anew, creating a constitution that to this day protects the rights of the people. This law reflects the ideas of the constitution; providing liberties relevant to the modern day. Today the phone should be considered a part of one’s personal property, and protected as such. A phone is a computer, and a computer is a database of information. Absolutely nobody likes having others look through personal information about him; that would simply be maniatic.
A phone stores personal information about its respective owner, information that should be kept private. When a cop or teacher searches a person’s phone without permission, he violates this person’s right to privacy. Most people have a phone, and if not for this law, nothing could legally prevent the police from searching a phone without the permission of the people, and chaos about unfair practices would ensue.
There is the counter-argument that if one has nothing to hide, then he should have nothing to fear from a search. This is false reasoning, and what is known as a base rate fallacy. A base rate fallacy is a type of false logic that intends to cancel out all prior arguments by implementing a final argument that seems strong, but is unable to be backed up with sufficient claims. This argument is a base rate fallacy because it tries to neglect all prior reasonings that come before it; trying to end the argument with the outcome verdict.
This is an extremely dumb type of logic to enforce as an argument for this issue, as it can be used the other way around as well. For example, one can also say that if he believes in freedom, then a cop should not be able to search his property without permission; this logic works both ways.
Despite whatever viewpoints one sees this law from, it is undeniable that a phone is a basic part of property. This law protects the basic right to modern property by requiring a police officer to have a warrant before being able to search a phone. This law is a step in the right direction to protecting the basic rights of the people and to giving emphasis on the idea of true American Freedom.
Leave a Reply