Part I The Growing Data-Driven Economy, 3 Smartphones as an Example of How Big Data and Privacy Intersect

Subject(s):

Market power — Free movement of IPR — Rights — Internet — Mobile telephony — Technology

This chapter analyses smartphones in discussing how Big Data is quantitatively and qualitatively different from the data collected before. In particular, it looks at the case of Riley v California and the unanimous decision here issued by the US Supreme Court. The case mainly stems from the issue of whether the government could search a suspect’s smartphone without a warrant. The Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, and requires the government to first obtain a warrant, supported by probable cause. There are several expanding exceptions for warrantless searches and seizures. In the end, the Supreme Court decided that searching a smartphone is not the same as searching someone’s wallet or purse. The case reveals that although Fourth Amendment Constitutional issues may seem far afield from competition policy, it raises interesting privacy issues.