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E.D.Tenn.: Palin e-mail hacking case: Hard drive could be seized and searched offsite, and all files could be search

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

In the Palin e-mail hacking case (EFF here), the government made a showing to seize the defendant’s whole computer to copy the hard drive for an off-site search, which is usually the preferable method anyway. “The Sixth Circuit has upheld the seizure of a computer and the subsequent search of the computer off-site due to the ‘technical difficulties of conducting a computer search in a suspect's home[.]’ Guest v. Leis, 255 F.3d 325, 334-35 (6th Cir. 2001). In so holding, the appellate court observed that such a procedure necessarily involved the seizure of computer data unrelated to the offenses. Id. at 334. The Government contends that every other circuit to consider the issue has also held that the seizure of a computer (or a copy of its hard drive) and its subsequent search offsite does not violate the Fourth Amendment...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on April 07, 2010 (boomark / email).