Quote on Fearon Decision in Metro

Omar Ha-Redeye was quoted by James Turner in the Metro newspaper for his critique of the R. v. Fearon decision:

What’s dangerous is that the person arrested and released without charge has no recourse to challenge the validity of the search in court or have their privacy restored; once their privacy’s been taken, it’s gone.

“What a police officer sees simply cannot be unseen, even if there is justification provided after the fact,” Toronto lawyer Omar Ha-Redeye wrote in a thoughtful commentary to the court’s ruling. The implications of this are chilling. Given the vast amount of personal data we now store on cellphones, we were better off with police needing warrants to search them — just as they still must to search homes, computers and other personal, private property in most cases.