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E.D.Va.: Use of Peer Spectre program to trace IP address not a search or a wiretap

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The Peer Spectre program is not a wiretap, and its use does not violate the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Willard, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 98216 (E.D. Va. September 20, 2010): In 2009, Special Agent Howell analyzed the pen data using the Wyoming Toolkit database. fn1 The database uses an automated software program called Peer Spectre which reads publicly available information from computers identified as sharing child pornography images. Special Agent Howell queried Wyoming Toolkit regarding the IP addresses that communicated with Defendant’s IP address in October and November 2008, and found that more than 2,200 of those IP addresses had been previously identified by Peer Spectre as advertising child pornography files available for sharing...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on September 22, 2010 (boomark / email).