Do Police Need a Warrant to Search Your Cellphone? It Depends on Where You Live

Thanks to an interesting, ongoing court debate, the privacy of your cellphone is now on trial. 

On Monday, the California Supreme Court ruled that police officers don't need a warrant to examine the cellphone of someone under arrest. Not surprisingly, the move has privacy advocates up in arms.

But if you're not a Californian, the privacy of your texts, pics and voicemail may still be protected. In Texas, for example, police are encouraged (but not required) to obtain a warrant before searching a cellphone. And the Ohio Supreme Court has decided that warrants are absolutely necessary for cellphone searches. 

Which state is right? Is California overstepping its bounds? The issue probably won't be resolved until the U.S. Supreme Court picks it up.

Digital Ads on California License Plates?

California license plates may soon display electronic ads and messages. With a $19 billion deficit, the state is facing hard economic times, but is this the answer?

The idea is to display the standard license plate when the vehicle is in motion, but when it is stopped for more than four seconds, digital ads would be displayed with the license plate number remaining visible at all times somewhere on the plate.

In emergencies, Amber Alerts or traffic information could be displayed in lieu of ads.

One question comes to mind: How will this affect license plate recognition technology?

Homeland Security Gets Back to Nature

This week, trainees from the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program collaborated with the San Francisco Police Department to better protect California's shorelines from terrorist threats. But these aren't your usual specially-trained members of the armed forces. Instead, they're dolphins and sea lions. Seriously.

Chosen for their amazing intelligence, memory, detection capability and lightning-quick mobility, dolphins and sea lions are a great fit for underwater homeland security initiatives. Members of the program are trained to identify mines, improvised explosive devices and enemy divers.

See a photo slideshow of the exercise here.