美国第七巡回上诉法院在U.S. v. Stathas案中作出裁决，认定执法部门在将涉案手机发还前，有权删除设备中的全部数据 1。该案发生于2026年10月13日 1。被告Stathas于2023年认罪，罪名是引诱未成年人从事非法性活动（违反18 U.S.C. § 2422(b)），并被判处180个月监禁及10年监督释放 1。
法院支持警方的做法，指出被告手机中存储了与受害者的淫秽聊天记录以及受害者身份信息 1。鉴于手机数据的复杂性，地方法院认为“除了数字擦除外没有程序”能彻底清除所有犯罪或有害材料，因此警方在归还前删除全部数据的行为是合理的 1。
该裁定援引了Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373 (2014)一案作为法律依据，强调现代智能手机已不仅是通讯工具，更是包含数百万页文本、数千张照片等海量信息的“微型计算机” 1。Riley案曾指出，当时主流智能手机容量为16GB至64GB，平均用户安装33个应用，且超过90%的美国成年人拥有手机 1。
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled that law enforcement agencies are permitted to completely erase data from a criminal defendant’s seized cellphone prior to returning the device to its owner 1. The decision, issued in U.S. v. Stathas, 2026 WL 3061816 (7th Cir. October 13, 2026), stems from a case involving a defendant who pleaded guilty in 2023 to enticing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity under 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) 1. Following his conviction, Stathas was sentenced to 180 months of imprisonment and ten years of supervised release 1.
Rationale Behind the Digital Erasure Order
The appellate court upheld the district court’s finding that wiping the device was necessary because the cellphone contained extensive explicit communications with the victim as well as sensitive personal identification information 1. The lower court determined that there was no procedural alternative other than a full digital erasure capable of removing all criminal evidence and harmful materials stored on the device 1. In justifying this approach, the Seventh Circuit cited the Supreme Court’s precedent in Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373 (2014), emphasizing that modern smartphones function as "miniature computers" rather than simple communication tools 1. The court noted that such devices store massive amounts of personal data, including millions of pages of text and thousands of photographs 1. According to the cited Riley data, mainstream smartphones at the time had storage capacities ranging from 16GB to 64GB, with average users installing 33 applications, and over 90% of American adults owning a cell phone 1.
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