- 38 A B C A emails, potentially dating back years. The data storage capacity of a phone can vastly exceed what an individual could carry on their person or in a briefcase: thousands of pictures, messages, or videos. When combined in sufficient quantities, even individually mundane pieces of information have the potential to reveal aspects of our most private lives. D E F G H I J K L M P Q R S T C D [129] Second, computers and cell phones are ‘fastidious record keeper[s]’ (Vu, at para. 42). These digital devices can generate records of websites visited, documents read and created, and the details of the uses of almost all programs on the device. Cell phones in particular retain records of messages, both drafted and sent, calls made, and files transmitted and received. The ability of a cell phone to generate an exhaustive record of seemingly trivial aspects of a person’s day-to-day life means that it contains a far more thorough picture of what that person thought, said and did than any conventional form of data storage ever could. Because cell phones record details about so many aspects of our lives that would otherwise disappear, any intrusion into the device compromises our privacy interest in an unprecedented way. Our cell phones, on a daily basis, perform a level of surveillance which can generate and allow access to information ranging from social media communications to personal habits, and from tracked news feeds to medication schedules. [130] As well, digital devices can retain files and data even after users think they have been destroyed (Vu, at para. 43). This problem may be even more pronounced with respect to cell phones, on which detailed manipulation of background files can be even more challenging for the average user. N O B E F G H I J K L M N [131] Finally, the limitation inherent in searches incident to arrest – limiting a search to a particular place or item – is not a meaningful restriction, since modern digital devices are portals to vast stores of information that is not ‘in’ the device, but is instead stored on servers, or on third party devices (Vu, at para. 44). For example, if a user logs in to an Internet browser on both her home computer and on her cell phone, the browser on the cell phone may contain not just a fastidious record of Internet usage on the cell phone, but also on the home computer. Similarly, social media applications may allow the holder of the cell phone to review messages and information generated by the user on other devices. Emails which have never been sent or read from the cell phone may be accessible through email applications (potentially including those sent many years ago). Files which have never been opened or created on the cell phone may be accessible through O P Q R S T U U V V