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CA9: Installing peer-to-peer software on one's computer is a waiver of any expectation of privacy in the computer

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Installing peer-to-peer software on a computer to permit others access to the contents of the computer was a waiver of any expectation of privacy in the computer. The officer entered the computer and viewed defendant's child porn. United States v. Ganoe, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 17424 (9th Cir. August 15, 2008): Although as a general matter an individual has an objectively reasonable expectation of privacy in his personal computer, see United States v. Heckenkamp, 482 F.3d 1142, 1146 (9th Cir. 2007), we fail to see how this expectation can survive Ganoe's decision to install and use file-sharing software, thereby opening his computer to anyone else with the same freely available program. The crux of Ganoe's argument is that he simply did not know that others would be able to access files stored on his own computer...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 17, 2008 (boomark / email).