A new report by the American Civil Liberties Union found that school districts across California have inconsistent policies regarding a school’s ability to search the contents of a student’s cellphone, often encroaching on a student’s right to privacy.
The ACLU of California said searches have become a bigger, and more common, issue as cellphones have become pervasive among students. The report’s authors — Brendan Hamme and Hector O. Villagra of the ACLU of Southern California — contend that searching phones could be a serious invasion of privacy, considering the amount of personal data a device could contain, including financial information, photos, videos and text messages with intimate conversations.