Rental Agreement - Big Easy Memories: Fill & Download for Free

Practical planning tips:Use Google spreadsheets or other shared software. To stay organized, use this religiously. This also saves you stress knowing all your thoughts and open to-do's are in one place.Use various online and offline resources. There are great reviews, forums and books (e.g. Bridal Bargains - http://www.amazon.com/Bridal-Bargains-Throwing-Fantastic-Realistic/dp/1889392391/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299730400&sr=1-1 - does a good job helping you navigate new brands and not be ripped off; I haven't read it in over 5 years, but I learned a lot of wedding planning tips from it)Consider hiring a wedding planner or day-of coordinator. The rest of this answer assumes you are doing most of the planning yourself.For all vendors, be sure to keep contact info, cell phone numbers handy and get everything in writing and follow-up regularly, especially the month before to re-confirm the details.More important things to remember throughout the planning process:It is your wedding. The two of you should make the final calls.It is just one day (or at most a week celebration). You spend a lot of time planning for the big day, but what's more important is preparing for your marriage. Think of the issues which come up as preparation for far more serious life challenges in the future.Being engaged is a special, brief time. Don't forget to enjoy this period of your relationship. One day you won't be able to imagine what it's like not to be married.I. First things first: At its core, a wedding is an event (or series of events) with the end goal of celebrating you, your fiance and your decision to tie the knot. Basic event planning steps are where you should start:Size: Discuss with your fiance how large of a wedding you'd like. Consider other weddings you've attended. Less than 100 is fairly intimate and you're likely to get to talk to everyone at least once. More than 200 is large enough where you won't actually talk to everyone. Discuss any constraints you'd like to put (e.g. if your fiance hasn't already heard of the family friend today, the family friend is ineligible to be invited). Todo: Make a list of everyone you will definitely invite ("A list") and others you would like to invite if you have space ("B list"). Force your fiance and all of your parents to do the same. Do this on a shared Google spreadsheet or similar and give yourself time to let the old friends spring back into memory.Vision: Discuss the overall vision with your fiance. Even those who haven't planned their weddings since childhood have likes and dislikes when it comes to their own weddings. Figure out the structure (is it multiple days? a single day? local? at some faraway destination?) and each of you should choose 3 things you absolutely want to have done well (e.g. great food, perfect dress, open bar). It's a good idea to keep some document (tab in that Google spreadsheet) to capture other special ideas you guys have.Budget: Discuss what you can spend, who else is contributing to figure out your overall budget. Weddings can vary vastly in cost depending on city (coastal cities can be >50% more expensive than in middle of the US) and your taste.II. Location & Date: With your vision, guest count range (estimate your invitee to attendee ratio which can be anywhere from 50-95%) and budget, start to solidify the types of wedding venue you want. Questions to ask yourself:Local or destination: Local is easier to plan, destination is more interesting and a decent way to force your guest list to a smaller size.Single site or multiple: Do you want your ceremony and reception to be at the same place or not? Are there other events (e.g. tea ceremony) which you need to hold during the wedding day?Indoor or outdoor: Time of year and location obviously a factor.Over 250 people or under: At a certain size, your choices become limited to large venues like dedicated wedding/event centers, large hotels or convention centers. Under about 250, you can consider less typical event venues like local restaurants, wineries, zoos, museums, schools, gardens, etc.Anything special you're looking for: a view of the ocean, a place where all guests can equally see the dance floor, a city view, a place you can overhaul entirely, a place with special meaning in your lives, etc.Do your research online, look at pictures of actual weddings from the place and then make appointments in blocks so you can spend a few days and hit a lot of places. If you're calling a non-traditional wedding venue, you should consider getting rental quotes on the phone without saying your are planning a wedding (call it a family reunion or other celebration) to avoid the wedding inflation. When you visit, bring a camera to take pictures to help you remember the sites.Once you have a short list, here are factors to consider when choosing and booking a location and date:Fees: Dig deep on the requirements. Some places require you use their coordinators. Others charge you a per person cake cutting fee. Many limit your choice of vendors.Size & layout: How many can be accommodated? Do you have buffer if your guest list balloons? Do you want a dance floor? Think through the things you'd want and what space requirements they'd have: e.g. slideshow (will it be dark enough in the room, is there room for screens large enough plus projection), a photo booth station, a 14-piece band, etc.? What would the layout of tables be and is it what you're looking for? Will the place photograph well?Date: What is available? Will these dates work for everyone (does it conflict with family members' graduations? other friends' weddings? any must-have vendors)? Note that Sunday weddings can be harder for traveling guests but can be cheaper; weekday weddings are even harder for guests and even cheaper for you.Book the place(s) with the required deposit. Be sure to actually read the rental agreement before you sign (and ask for edits and changes based on any special needs) and keep copies of it, contact info of the person at the venue and copies of your deposit receipt handy. Remember that your wedding, as special as it will be, is one of potentially hundreds of events the site is handling in a year. You (or your wedding planner) need to be responsible for following-up and keeping the site and your other vendors on point.III. Wedding Dress: For better or worse, the wedding dress industry is not nice to consumers. Brides are not that cost sensitive and unfamiliar with brands -- so they are a gold mine. Often dresses are not made until you and a bunch of others around the world order them, so that's why you hear about the notoriously long lead times and "rush orders" for dresses needed in less than 6 months. Factors to consider:Budget: You will wear this dress for maybe 12 hours or so, but it will be in a lot of photographs. Decide how much you are willing to spend and don't forget all the pieces you'll need to put the look together including the dress, alterations, shoes, undergarments, veil, other hair pieces, wraps/shawls, make-up, hair updo, cleaning the dress afterwards, etc.Styles: Get the bridal magazines, look online. When you go to stores, try on styles you weren't considering, you will likely be surprised as you most likely haven't ever seen a wedding dress on. Don't be surprised if most places require appointments and an assistant who suggests dresses versus let you browse. Often stores cut out brand labels and dress model numbers so you can't compare prices easily (evil, I know). Bring friends, relatives who will be helpful only. Take pictures if the stores let you.Timing: Check on the rush order timing, and as excited as you might be about your wedding date, I recommend you tell them your wedding date is 4 weeks earlier than it actually is to ensure on-time delivery.Alterations: See if the store requires in-store alterations. Wedding gowns aren't easy to alter well given the materials and complexity of some dresses, especially strapless dresses. Budget time for alterations as well as hundreds of dollars.Accessories: As you will know by now, all things "wedding" related cost more. Consider looking for accessories outside a bridal salon or borrow from friends if you don't want to spend hundreds on a veil.Cleaning: Depending what you do with your dress afterwards, you can have it dry cleaned and/or packaged in an archival box.Make-up & hair: Research make-up and hair options. Some people hire professionals to come to wherever they are getting ready; others go to a beauty salon. Consider whether bridesmaids and mothers will need professional services too. Some make-up artists stay with you during the day to help do touch-ups or hairdo changes.IV. Bridal party apparel:Bridesmaids dresses require some lead-time too, but usually not as much. Typically bridesmaids pay for their own dresses, but you can cover the expense if you wish. Work with your bridesmaids or have your maid of honor lead the coordination. Make the final call yourself in case of conflicts. Several stores have gotten into creating wedding apparel, e.g. J.Crew. Stores like rkbridal.com in New York offer online/fax orders and price matching.For men, tuxedo rentals are fairly flexible and many nationwide chains make it easy to get measurements taken. Do take special care to have folks pick up their tuxes at least a day in advance and they must try the tux on in the store in the fairly likely case there are sizing issues. (To be convinced, read my review of Men's Warehouse at http://www.yelp.com/list/my-wedding-palo-alto.)V. CateringFood: Decide what type of food and banquet style you want. You could serve lunch or dinner, or just have cocktail hour or a light brunch. Buffets are not any cheaper than plated food, but require fewer servers, yield hotter/fresher food and require space on your floor layout. Plated meals can feel more formal and be easier for guests. Food stations are good for lighter receptions but can be sufficiently heavy and interestingly diverse compared to a more tranditional meal. Do a tasting if you can.Fees: Caterers have lots of hidden fees, most notably the service fee which usually starts at 18%. Investigate staffing fees, rentals for tables, chairs, chair covers, linens, flatware, dinnerware, glassware, etc.VI. Cake: Some caterers or locations (e.g. hotels) can provide your cake. Definitely do a cake tasting though often with cakes of height, the density required as well as how long they have to be left out can make them taste bad. This is definitely not a rule as I was happy to find my wedding cake at a regular bakery which does delicious wedding cakes, though they book up fast. As a cost-saving measure, you can have extra sheet cake of the same type of cake made. The cake, once cut up, looks pretty unrecognizable, so the sheet cake might even look better. Watch out for the cake cutting fee on top.VII. Florist: Florists range from those who provide you with specific arrangements to people who are more event designers who can help you build out the decoration and look & feel of your ceremony and banquet tables. There's been some recent trends to get more creative than flowers for reception centerpieces -- rocks, potted arrangements, fruit, your favorite memorabilia or photos and other ideas can also be used.VIII.Invitations & Collateral: There are numerous online resources for creating invitations, programs, placecards, table cards and anything else you need printed for your wedding. A friend found artists on Etsy.com who would do custom designs for you and send you the files you need to get their logos, special fonts printed elsewhere. You can also use offline stationary, greeting card (e.g. Paper Source, Papyrus) or crafts stores (e.g. Michael's) to get invitations created.Tips: Personally, I think having consistent design throughout all your printed materials brings cohesion and polish to your wedding. That includes color choices, fonts, graphical elements, paper choice, etc. FedEx Kinkos can cut a stack of paper for around $1 per cut, so please do not waste time cutting your own invitations if you just need basic straight lines. Use a Google form or other form to collect updated mailing addresses; consider doing RSVPs online or save-the-dates online to save paper. If you mail RSVP cards, consider writing in light pencil a unique # that corresponds with each invitee in case someone doesn't properly fill out their name and you can't associate the RSVP card to the recipient. Obviously maintain a spreadsheet of RSVPs and make sure your RSVP cards include all the fields you need to provide the caterers with the info you need to give them (e.g. a couple wants chicken and fish, do you need to know which the wife wants vs which the husband wants for their placecards?).I'll call out wedding favors here since it fits as one of the things you will be physically handing out. If you have a theme, brainstorm what would be fun and creative. For the sake of the environment, before you buy 200 trinkets, think about what guests would actually want, use and keep.IX. Photographer & Videographer: After a wedding, besides your fond memories and funny stories, the photos and videos are what are lasting. Having an edited small set of photos and/or videos which highlight the day is priceless, both for the two of you as a couple, your parents, and also to your future children. Browse these vendors' online portfolios, ask friends to see their wedding albums and videos and find someone whose style you like. Note that even cheap ($1-3K) photographers may be terrible and no better than your amateur SLR-lugging photographer friends. So make sure you see some images which make you feel an emotion, awe you or otherwise make some good lasting impression on you. Consider hiring photographers and videographers who have worked with each other so they are used to each other and don't get in each other's way.Tip: Formal wedding albums are very expensive (many hundreds of dollars) given the archival quality of the book and binding. Unless you definitely want one, consider going with a photographer which doesn't force a package deal with it upfront. You may find after the wedding that you weren't sure what you were thinking spending all the money you did for the wedding; plus you realize you'd have to require white gloves for people to actually view your album. Instead, if you can get the digital copies, make a cheaper flip book for your coffee table.X. Entertainment: This can be your friend with a great iTunes playlist and nice speaker system to a DJ or a live band or two (perhaps different for your ceremony, cocktail hour and post-dinner dancing). Be wary of using house speakers for sound unless you've tested it out while the room is filled with talking guests. Often these systems are weak and made for background elevator music. Consider who will be your emcee -- a friend, the DJ or lead singer of your band. Provide clear instructions on the style you want (e.g. funny, raucous, stand-up comedian, etc.) and how self-promotional they should be. If they are doing your introductions, be sure to provide pronunciation guides for your wedding party.For your ceremony, do be sure people will be able to hear the officiant, you, your fiance and any musicians or speakers. You may be a little shy, but it isn't that fun to watch a wedding where you can't hear anything. Similarly think through the seating plan if that within your control to ensure people can see well.XI. Transportation: Map out all the relevant locations for your wedding day -- from where you, your fiance, parents, wedding party members will stay the night before, where everyone will get ready, where everyone will meet, when folks need to arrive for photos, the ceremony, in-between photos, the reception, etc. Figure out who is transporting themselves and whose transportation you care about and decide whether you will hire limos, shuttles or other transportation, or work with friends to chauffeur you around.XII. Rings: If you have an engagement ring, look for a wedding band which will complement it. Men's bands tend to be thicker and thicker bands need to be slightly larger that thinner bands for comfort. Consider engraving something special inside your bands. Allow for time for re-sizing when ordering.XIII. Personal details: Having been involved in many wedding and attended countless others, I strongly recommend you continually consider how to make your wedding day yours. Not for the goal of outshining other weddings, but to make sure it's a day that is about you, not what a typical wedding has to be since you are the ones shelling out the time and money. I've seen some nice personal touches, e.g. game lovers had guests do various brain teasers in a table competition. It's hard to think of these personalized details, so keep that running list of brainstormed ideas and ask your closest friends for thoughts on what makes the two of you unique.Day-Of coordinationHaving run day-of coordination many times, I'll have to write another answer on how to make sure your wedding runs smoothly as this one is long enough.

The Dubai city is not only known for its massive shopping malls & exotic infrastructure but is also a rich in heritage. It has preserved heritage from million years & it attracts the people who prefer to live in historically significant places rather than the ones that’re freshly built. However, the best thing about Dubai is that it didn’t let itself end up merely as a historical place to be visited if you love to witness heritage! Rather, it improved itself & now it is one of the best & most sought after places to live in. It doesn’t only provides the best residential areas but also opens the chances of making your life more entertaining. If you’re thinking to shift to Dubai permanently, you definitely need to know the pros & cons of living in Dubai!Here’re some:Pros1. Religious IndependenceDubai is basically a Muslim city but people belonging to all the religions live and practice their religion freely! You can witness a number of mosques, churches and temples in Dubai. However, during Ramadan it is a bit tough for Non-Muslims to find places to eat during fasting times.2. Accommodation in DubaiLiving in apartments is cost effective as well as really fun and with short-term leases you can relocate whenever you want to. Serviced apartments are available everywhere in the city. They are mostly newly build and almost all come furnished and are serviced as part of the rent.3. Business Opportunities for Entrepreneurs and ProfessionalsDubai has an economy that is vastly spreading. If you start a business and it gets successful, you will be able to earn loads of money through it. As being the business hub of the world there exists a never-ending list of services, goods and expertise needed in Dubai and the UAE.4. Tax Free CountryIf you have a job and live in Dubai, you won’t have to pay any kind of tax on the salary that you receive. That means you won’t have to deal with the nightmare of tax deducted at source.5. Multi-Cultural SocietyPeople from different cultural backgrounds live here. If you are a social person, you will get to know various things about various cultures and it will enhance your knowledge manifolds. People are generally very friendly and eager to make new friends and, since it’s an international city, expats will have the opportunity to make friends from all over the world.6. Dubai is a Fun CityYou can never get bored while living in Dubai as there are more activities, events, services and facilities than you could get around to enjoy in one lifetime. There is always something new to do, try, taste, see, encounter or experience in Dubai. Weekends are the most fun part of living in Dubai. When you live there, you get a number of places to visit to spend your holidays.7. More Liberal than Other Middle-East CountriesUnlike many other cities in Middle-East, Dubai is quite open minded when it comes to smoking or drinking. Also you won’t have to deal with the issue of censored TV viewing unlike other middle-eastern countries. You will be able to watch uncensored TV shows. However, there are still plenty of rules as well your should keep in mind while traveling to Dubai or living in Dubai like no revealing clothes, no kissing and touching at public places, going topless on beaches prohibited, un-marital sex etc.8. Public TransportationPublic transport is readily available in Dubai all the time and you do not have to pay much for them. Dubai Metro is a nice, clean, affordable way to move around the city. There is a system of feeder buses offered at most of the major stations. Taxis are cheap and plentiful. For air travel, once expats have their residence visa, they can get an e-Passes which expedites clearing customs.9. Plenty of Outdoor ActivitiesIf you are someone who loves to soak the sunlight, you will get it in maximum amount while living in Dubai. Climate in Dubai remains hot almost whole year. It allows expats to enjoy outdoor activities for the majority of the year. And even when it’s too hot to do much more than sit about, you can have plenty of fun at night time. Nightlife is lively but doesn’t start until after 9:00pm and goes on till late night. Big name entertainment and parties are advertised all the time.Cons1. HotLiving in Dubai is like living in hell in terms of the weather. The city is really hot and that too round the year. In summer time temperature can reach as high as 54 Celsius and and remain around 45-50 Celsius most of the year. Except from November to March, it is far too hot to walk in Dubai.2. Expensive CityDubai is considered to be one of the most expensive cities in the world and if you are financially weak, surviving here won’t be easy for you. Your attractive tax-free salary can quickly be eaten up by rent, luxury goods, school fees and too much socializing if you are not careful. Too many expats get wiped out by Dubai and leave after their assignment with little more than memories.3. Driving Can be Stressful and HazardousDriving in Dubai is not an easy task because of the abundance of traffic cameras and even if you commit a minor mistake you might end up paying a lot of fine. Despite all this it is driving hell for most of the drivers. If you pick up any newspaper or surf news on internet you will hear about plenty of accidents on Dubai roads. And with high traffic volume driving can be as stressful as hazardous.4. Dealing with Real Estates and Landlords can be TrickyRents on apartments must be paid in full and up-front. Some companies will cover this for their employees and then deduct amounts monthly from their wages. Real estates can be difficult to work with. It’s better to find a place by word-of-mouth and then go directly to the property or engage a real estates to handle matters thereafter. An agent is required to complete a rental agreement.5. Difficult to find Job in DubaiDue to large number of expats and very high competition finding a job in Dubai is difficult. The offices are always packed and you do not get to find any vacancy for years. Dubai is usually known for high salaries and high living standards that’s how many expats from all over the world came in Dubai to make their fortune.

Sorry. A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision stated that cellphones can be searched without probable cause or a warrant. If you are stopped, for any reason, they may look through the phone as long as they are legally detaining you. In other words, they can search it just as the would anything else on you or in your vehicle but without consent.Furthermore, they can data dump everything on it within minutes, which includes everything. If it is encrypted, they can then take their time and, if they find anything illegal, arrest you later based on that.ADDENDUMIn a subsequent comment to my answer, (can be read below) it was pointed out that a SCOTUS holding in Riley (2014) established the opposite of my claims. I promised to review that case, and did. The result of that review, the security briefing I received last month on the issue (raised by concerns over the Court's decision (not holding) to rehear the Carpenter (2018) case in the next session - I erroneously believed the case was heard on those grounds; it only affected those issues - has illustrated the need for clarification and more information.To fully understand what is happening, we have to look at the Riley case and the subsequent strategies Law Enforcement used to bypass it (I'll post their instructions they put out on their forums), the Supreme Court's knowledge of those tactics are evidenced by their concerns that it might be used to restrict those methods in the future (they wrote about in the dissent), why the arguments for rehearing are concerning, and how none of it ultimately matters, because too many doors have been left open for interpretation: meaning, they will still be able to do as I originally said. But it's interesting to hear it in their own words.Some terminology: there are searches and seizures “Incident to a lawful arrest". There is a “Reasonable expectation of privacy", which has two requirements but is, unlike the first, a 4th Ammendment defence.Each has some dubious and contradictory applications by the courts. For instance, while someone may have a privacy interest in an object, they can still be found to have no rights concerning its seizure this way: Citing United States v. Robinson, the Fifth Circuit said, “it is well-settled law that “police officers are not constrained to search only for weapons or instruments of escape on the arrestee’s person; they may also, without any additional justification, look for evidence on the arrestee’s person in order to preserve it for use at trial .. The permissible scope of a search incident to a lawful arrest extends to containers found on the arrestee’s person.”But what constitutes arrest or even “incident to" (i.e. time) was frittered away: “The appeals court added: “The fact that the search took place after the police transported Finley to Brown’s residence does not alter our conclusion … In general, as long as the administrative processes incident to the arrest and custody have not been completed, a search of effects seized from the defendant’s person is still incident to the defendant’s arrest. Although the police had moved Finley, the search was still substantially contemporaneous with his arrest and was therefore permissible.”The Fifth Circuit was forced to do the “Ali shuffle” around the firmly established rule pronounced by the Supreme Court in United States v. Chadwick.”April 14, 2017 by The Legality“But what about the messages that are on your phone right now? They may be fair game: recent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and several federal circuit courts suggest that cell phone searches, when performed incident to a lawful arrest, can be reasonable and constitutional under the Fourth Amendment.”In Michigan, 3 years after Riley, their high court affirmed this, citing regulations that nullify (in their opinion) the 4th Ammendment:The court considered the case of Michael Corbin, who, along with a co-defendant, was convicted of a 2011 double homicide and armed robbery in Boston. Under a federal statute that allows the government to access some electronic information, police sought and obtained an order to get the cellphone information of people — including Corbin — who had been in contact with one of the victims. ( reference is to18 U.S. Code§ 2703. Required disclosure of customer communications or records. Allows obtaining records if federal rules of regulations are followed - without warrant - or Administrativrme rules.)The state had argued that it could use the federal statute to access Corbin's texts without a warrant because the messages were stored by a cellphone service provider. The SJC rejected that argument, and said even under that same statute, a warrant was required for the text messages in this case.”There are outright exceptions, as well.“At border crossings and airports, the Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply to U.S. citizens. Luggage can be rifled through, questions can be asked, and cell phones can be searched through. Although cell phone searches at borders haven’t always been a priority, they are becoming increasingly more popular. In 2015, there were fewer than 5,000 cell phone searches at borders. But in 2016, the number jumped to almost 25,000. In February 2017, there were more cell phone searches than in the entirety of 2015. Border agents who ask for cell phone to be turned over have been known to occasionally become forceful if their request is denied. Threats of arrest may also occur until the cell phones are surrendered.” - Romanolawpc.com.Following the Riley case, PoliceOne posted the following:Be Advised...with Doug Wyllie, PoliceOne Senior ContributorThe Court's decision on cell phone searches: 3 things cops need to knowThe Supreme Court unanimously ruled that with the exception of some emergency circumstances, police must obtain a warrant before searching the contents of a cell phone seized from someone who has been arrestedJun 25, 2014The ruling addressed two separate cases — Riley v. California and U.S. v. WurieBut does the ruling — clearly resounding ‘win’ for proponents of digital and personal privacy — significantly hamper law enforcement? Yes and no (mostly no).PoliceOne Contributor Morris Greenbergadded, “This decision doesn’t preclude law enforcement of seizing a cell phone as evidence — it only precludes a warrantless search absent exigent circumstance.”Now pay very close attention to what was posted by their counsel: “Why tempt fate?” Greenberg asked. “If a warrant can be written — and the evidence flowing out of that be upheld as a result of the warrant — why not do it!?” - ibid. They were discussing the justification of a warrant after-the-fact of gaining evidence to support the warrant (probable cause) which would then satisfy the seizure they obtained the support from.Next stated was this: “It is the intervention of the neutral and detached magistrate in the search warrant process that will satisfy the reasonableness standard of the Fourth Amendment,” LoRusso explained.The Carpenter decision in 2018 was hailed as the decision that finally put an end to the shenanigans, but, as one columnist forecasted, it was not:“We hold only that a warrant is required in the rare case where the suspect has a legitimate privacy interest in records held by a third party,” the chief justice wrote. The court’s four more liberal members — Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — joined his opinion.Chief Justice Roberts left open the question of whether limited government requests for location data required a warrant. But he said that access to seven days of data is enough to raise Fourth Amendment concerns.This unmasks a little-known practice that still exists: that there is no privacy interest (and therefore 4th Ammendment violation) when the data searched is less than seven days old.Listen to what else was revealed as a concern by dissenting judges: this concern references real cellphone data collection most people think are private:Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said the distinctions drawn by the majority were illogical and “will frustrate principled application of the Fourth Amendment in many routine yet vital law enforcement operations.”“Cell-site records,” he wrote, “are uniquely suited to help the government develop probable cause to apprehend some of the nation’s most dangerous criminals: serial killers, rapists, arsonists, robbers and so forth.”This is an admission of lack of probable cause in the quest to seize and search for the purpose of gaining something to give probable cause!LA Times articleBy DAVID G. SAVAGEJUN 22, 2018 | 3:35 PMWASHINGTONIt is not clear how the ruling will affect other disputes over electronic information. Roberts said the decision in Carpenter vs. United States was a “narrow one” that applied only to cellphone tracking data [obtained from third party carriers]. The dissenters warned the rule inevitably will expand to shield other types of electronic data — a forecast that many privacy advocates hope will prove accurate.The case prompted a sharp and deep divide within the court over how what is meant by an “unreasonable search.”Getting It Wrong On Cell Phone Searchesby Richard A. EpsteinMonday, June 25, 2018The Supreme Court last week added another layer of confusion to the vexed law of unreasonable searches and seizures regarding law-enforcement use of cell phone data to ferret out criminal activity. In Carpenter v. United States, Chief Justice John Roberts, speaking for a five-member majority (including the four liberal justices—Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor), ruled that information collected on Timothy Carpenter’s whereabouts, pursuant to the Stored Communications Act (SCA), was inadmissible. The SCA allows law enforcement to access certain telephone company records under a court order when it “offers specific and articulable facts showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe” that the records sought “are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation.” Notwithstanding the SCA, police can now access historical cell-site location information (CSLI) only if they first obtain a warrant by meeting the higher standard of probable cause under the Fourth Amendment.Unfortunately, in arguing Carpenter, the government did not offer the right analysis. Instead, it invoked what is commonly called “the third-party doctrine” to insist that Carpenter had no “reasonable expectation of privacy” because he had voluntarily turned over that data to a third party, namely the phone company. On its view, the government does not even have to show reasonable grounds for the search: sharing the data counts as a complete waiver of all Fourth Amendment rights. As I have long argued, and Justice Neil Gorsuch explicitly accepted in his dissent, the government’s argument distorts the notions of consent and assumption of risk. It is perfectly common for people to turn over information to third parties on the express or implied condition that those third parties will keep it confidential. It is therefore preposterous to give the government unfettered access to that information. Such a rule would mean that any information stored in the cloud could be accessed by the government on demand—sheer constitutional overkill.It is odd for the Chief Justice to go out of his way to tolerate a government search that is likely to lead to real abuse, while blocking well-conceived access of routine, non-confidential business records for no good reason at all. It is all too easy to claim that changed technological circumstances require scrapping old doctrines. But in this, as in so many other areas, that hasty conclusion is wrong. Get the conceptual foundations right the first time, and the resulting doctrine will prove more durable and sensible than the Chief Justice’s confused Carpenter decision. It is time for the Court to redo Fourth Amendment law from the ground up.”What did Law Enforcement have to say?Cop Gumbowith Val Van BrocklinSupreme Court recognizes a new expectation of privacy in the digital ageThe opinion suggests a shifting landscape for police searches and seizuresJul 16, 2018“The Carpenter decision does have limits.The majority suggested that less than 7 days of records might not constitute a search for Fourth Amendment purposes.The opinion did not extend to real-time CSLI, “tower dumps” (a download of information on all devices that connected to a particular cell site during a particular interval), or other business records that might incidentally reveal location information.Nor did it call into question conventional surveillance techniques and tools, such as security cameras.The decision acknowledged exigent circumstances could establish an exception to the warrant requirement, e.g., a fleeing suspect, to protect individuals who are threatened with imminent harm, or prevent the imminent destruction of evidence. Bomb threats, active shootings and child abductions could fall within the exception.The opinion did not address collection techniques involving foreign affairs or national security.”And we know how much falls under that heading. If criminal activity is discovered while searching that, it is enough for probable cause on a separate matter.What has been happening since Riley is cops are gaining cellphones from drivers pulled over for minor offence, their cellphones searched under various pretexts, and then any numbers or texts to a criminal, suspect or establishing a tertiary relationship, is then used for arrest and justification of the search.Here is an analysis of one resulting action:April 14, 2017 by The Legality“But what about the messages that are on your phone right now? They may be fair game: recent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and several federal circuit courts suggest that cell phone searches, when performed incident to a lawful arrest, can be reasonable and constitutional under the Fourth Amendment.Today, the answer to that question hinges on whether or not the search was a violation of an individuals reasonable expectation of privacy. Determining whether the individuals expectation of privacy was reasonable involves questions both subjective (did the individual actually expect privacy?) and objective (is society ready to recognize that expectation as a reasonable one?). For example, you have the reasonable expectation that your personal mail will remain private from the postman’s prying eyes, and society generally agrees that no one else should open your mail. Alternatively, it would be fairly unreasonable to expect that anything written on the outside of the envelope you mailed would remain equally private.Because law enforcement officers have an interest both in ensuring their own safety (by searching for potential weapons) and in preserving evidence of a possible crime, a search completed incident to a lawful arrest is exempted from the warrant requirement and is presumptively reasonable, thus sidestepping the objective/subjective test entirely. That leads to the key question: just what can an officer search?Because an officer is presumed to know whats appropriate in the circumstances, whether and how to conduct a search during an arrest is left largely to a police officers discretion. Of course, not everything an officer finds will be admissible in a criminal proceeding there are limitations, but during an arrest the officers discretion is fairly wide, and generally gives an officer power to search your person or the area immediately within your control regardless of whether you are being arrested for something as minor as dirty mud flaps or as major as multiple homicide. Several courts have held this search can extend to closed containers, glove compartments, packages of cigarettes,“ and yes, even cell phones.Back to Romanolawpc and their generous, assessment of one's rights (this ignores the work-around police developed), they said, “In the Riley v. California case, the decision led to requiring a warrant before searching a suspect’s smartphone.This prompted the expansion of possessions needing warrants, and thus cell phone search warrants became necessary. A police officer can seize your cell phone without a warrant. However, they are unable to view anything on the device without a cell phone search warrant.Text messages are fair game for police if they want them. In order to obtain text messages, police can go to the cell phone carrier with either a subpoena or court order (warrants are not necessary). Some phone services, such as AT&T and Verizon, do charge a fee for the records being obtained.When it comes to what is safe from the police’s prying eyes when cell phone searches occur, photos are fair game. Even if you delete photos off your cell phone, they are still able to be tracked down and uncovered. When photographs are deleted from a cell phone, they still can remain in areas of the flash chip called solid state memory. With the proper forensic software team, police can easily recover deleted data.LA Times articleBy DAVID G. SAVAGEJUN 22, 2018 | 3:35 PMWASHINGTONIt is not clear how the ruling will affect other disputes over electronic information. Roberts said the decision in Carpenter vs. United States was a “narrow one” that applied only to cellphone tracking data [obtained from third party carriers]. The dissenters warned the rule inevitably will expand to shield other types of electronic data — a forecast that many privacy advocates hope will prove accurate.The case prompted a sharp and deep divide within the court over how what is meant by an “unreasonable search.”Most people don't know about Stingrays. There are hundreds in every major city. When it comes to third-parties that you share data with, what do you do when the third party is the government that holds it all as a middleman?Chicago TribuneBut in the Windy City, the Chicago Police Department will run into trouble -- for several years the department has used cell site simulators (commonly known as IMSI catchers or Stingray devices) to scan cellphones for call logs, which include text messages, the Chicago Tribune reported, also noting that although sources confirm the simulators' use, the city has never publicly acknowledged having the equipment.Stingrays don't scan. They act as cell towers smartphones are incapable of differentiating from real towers, that connect all the traffic to and from phones. Your phone hooks up to it as it would the nearest tower. There are almost a dozen within a 4 block radius of me. Why and what for and by whom, I don't know.But, that isn't the end of all the tricks and controversy making their way through the courts. Here is a posting on a LE forum about 2 such cases:Cop Gumbowith Val Van BrocklinHow 2 recent SCOTUS cases could change police search and seizureTwo cases recently argued before SCOTUS could narrow or expand warrantless searches – and they could reach back to what police are doing now.2018 started off with a double-feature in the U.S. Supreme Court starring the Fourth Amendment and police authority to search and seize. (Photo/Pixabay).Feb 2, 2018COLLINS V. VIRGINIAMotorcyclist Ryan Collins whizzed by an officer at 140 mph, eluding efforts to stop him. The officer did get photos and a license plate number. After seeing images of the parked bike on Collins’ Facebook page, the officer tracked it to the home of his girlfriend where Collins spent several nights a week. There the officer saw the Suzuki in the driveway nosing out from under a tarp, walked up, and uncovered it. The license plate and VIN confirmed it was the motorcycle – and that it was stolen.This case pits the automobile exception to a warrant requirement against the Fourth Amendment’s protection of a home and its curtilage from warrantless searches.The automobile exception arose out of a 1925 traffic stop. Because vehicles are mobile and, the Supreme Court added in 1985, carry a diminished expectation of privacy for their occupants, police may search them on the spot without a warrant when they have probable cause to believe they contain evidence of a crime.Collins’ attorney conceded the officer had probable cause to believe the motorcycle he saw from the street was the one that had eluded him. He argued a competing Fourth Amendment principle trumped the automobile exception – that when officers go to a residence to look for contraband, even mobile contraband (such as drugs), they need a warrant absent exigent circumstances.The Virginia Supreme Court did not rule on whether exigent circumstances existed, relying instead on a categorical application of the automobile exception. Accordingly, the government was limited to that argument before the U.S. Supreme Court.The government’s attorney acknowledged the long-standing warrant requirement protection of homes and their curtilage, but argued the motorcycle was readily mobile and Collins had less expectation of privacy in it parked outside his girlfriend’s house in view of the street than what the Court had decided in previous curtilage cases. The attorney concluded that if the Court wanted to limit the categorical automobile exception, it should draw that line between the home and the curtilage.Justices Sotomayor, Gorsuch, and Kagan seemed reluctant to draw a new, bright line between the home and curtilage. As Sotomayor asked,“Even if the police know that the driver of this car is away on vacation and won’t be returning for two weeks, they’re not required to go to a magistrate and get a warrant?”BYRD V. UNITED STATESTerence Byrd was driving his fiancée’s rental car when a trooper pulled him over for driving too long in the left lane while passing, and “suspiciously” keeping his hands in the 10-2 positions on the steering wheel.During the stop, Byrd acted nervous and admitted he had a marijuana cigarette in the car. Troopers decided to search the car, advising Byrd they didn’t need his consent because the rental agreement didn’t authorize him as a driver. In the trunk, troopers found body armor and heroin, which Byrd acknowledged he had planned to sell.Byrd’s attorney argued the rental agreement didn’t determine Byrd’s constitutional rights. What mattered was whether Byrd had a reasonable expectation of privacy when, with the permission of his fiancée, he put his belongings in the trunk.…………………………..All of these situations have been used to justify cellphone searches.The Supreme Court decisions are being narrowed continually. What constitutes personal property, privacy interest, arrest, incidental to arrest, suspicion, etc., are all becoming subjective to the officer’s interpretation.Furthermore, the “preservation of evidence" that may be evidence of a crime is a classic standby. They just seize a phone on suspicion of containing evidence (one case the officer said the person just left a house they knew housed a person who sometimes dealt drugs - no drugs found - to take the driver's phone), said suspicion open to whatever the cop says. Then wait for the evidence to give probable cause for the search that will turn up the needed evidence to support the warrant…for the search.The big concern raised last month was over the arguments that led to SCOTUS agreeing to rehear Carpenter. It was clear there is a push to shift the grounds away from a constitutional one in order to prevent a precedent-based ruling (concerning cellphone data) being used or broadened later.