Police want to gain access to mobile phones without a court order

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia introduced a bill according to which operational services can gain access to electronic devices without a court order.

Currently, at the request of the police, a citizen is required to provide a mobile device for inspection, but is not required to turn it on or give a password to enter.

This allows you to avoid showing device content.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs calls the efficiency of investigations the main reason for introducing the bill, hoping that the criminals have time to cover up the traces of their activities while the investigators request data from telecom operators.

In fact, the purpose of the bill is clearly different – to identify unreliable citizens.

How it looks in practice in Russia:
If the police detain a citizen, they demand to voluntarily demonstrate the contents of the mobile device. In the event of a legal refusal, the usual practice is to detain and deliver a citizen to the police department, where measures of moral influence can be applied to him. However, if a citizen persists and does not provide access to his device to the police, then nothing can be done about it, even if the police have good reasons for viewing the device.