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E.D.Pa.: Seizure of entire server for off-site search in CP case was reasonable

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Local officials found out that the plaintiff ISP company was allegedly tolerating child pornography exchanges through its servers and it did not monitor any usage. They obtained a search warrant for the servers for the child porn and seized the computers. The ISP filed a civil rights action against the officials which they lost on First and Fourth Amendment grounds. They argued overbreadth because of seizure of protected materials as well under both the First and Fourth Amendment. Voicenet Communications, Inc. v. Corbett, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95619 (E.D. Pa. September 13, 2010). As to the Fourth Amendment overbreadth claim, they failed; the entire server was seizable for off-site search. In this case, however, the affidavit of probable cause specifically establishes, in detail, how the plaintiffs' computer system would be of evidentiary value in the search for evidence of child pornography...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on September 17, 2010 (boomark / email).