Using Magnetic Strips on a Suspect’s Credit Card Is Not a “Search”

Police do not have to obtain a search warrant before scanning a credit card’s magnetic strips during a search. 

United States v. DE L'Isle, 2016 BL 182195, 8th Cir., No. 15-1316, 6/8/16.

   The Eight Circuit found that police scanning credit cards obtained in a search do not violate the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on illegal searches. Officers initially seized the cards and scanned them to determine whether they were counterfeit after completing a search for drugs in a car. The court held that the cards’ owner did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the cards because the information gathered from a card “is identical to the information in plain view on the front of the card.”

    The court did warn that with technological advances, cards that share more information might be subject to the Fourth Amendment in the future.

http://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/document/United_States_v_Briere_No_151316_2016_BL_182195_8th_Cir_June_08_2.