Judge: Police Can Use Your Cellphone to Impersonate You Dylan Duarte July 20, 2012 I don’t deal or purchase drugs, but this is still alarming. A judge has ruled that if your cellphone is seized by the police, the police can then use it to send text messages to your contacts while impersonating you. The idea, of course, is to get one of your friends (or associates) to incriminate themselves. This ruling comes from a 2009 case where police seized a phone from suspected drug dealer Daniel Lee and started getting text messages from people wanting to purchase drugs. They then impersonated Lee, set up a meeting, and arrested the person looking to buy. I feel like I’ve seen this done in cop shows, but it always feels shady; it’s always the cops who are willing to “bend the rules” to catch their man. Except now, they don’t have to bend the rules. Fortunately, from what I gather, this seems to only apply if your phone receives incriminating text messages. I don’t think the police can just go through your contacts one by one, sending out texts and looking for potential criminals. It still seems fishy, but it could be a lot worse. via Gizmodo Share This With The World!