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CA9: Balco en banc: Computer search under Tamura not an excuse for a plain view; there has to be limits

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The Ninth Circuit in Balco en banc (panel opinion: United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc., 513 F.3d 1085 (9th Cir. 2008)) determines that seized computer information needs limits under the “venerable” pre-“information age” Tamura case (United States v. Tamura, 694 F.2d 591 (9th Cir. 1982)). This is a remarkable effort at keeping computer searches from becoming general searches or excuses for plain view inside the hard drive. United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc., No. 05-10067 (9th Cir. August 26, 2009) (by Kosinski, J.): Tamura, decided in 1982, just preceded the dawn of the information age, and all of the records there were on paper. The government was authorized to seize evidence of certain payments received by Tamura from among the records of Marubeni, his employer...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 26, 2009 (boomark / email).