The 4th Amendment and PCs
I remember reading about the broad interpretation of the border search exception to the warrant requirement for searches before, but otherwise, this Wired piece is an interesting survey of the topic. The second case she mentions also isn’t terribly surprising and I don’t find entirely unreasonable if the computer in question is the employer’s property.
The third case I find the most worrisome. I have often asked that question when reading about not just seizure of personal equipment but also when law enforcement goes after aggregate data like ISP logs and the like. I think this is the case with the greatest potential for abuse.
Granick suggests where the first case may find an uneasy balance. She also mentions a law suit, already lost but gathering for a rehearing, whose loss holds up the employers right at the expense of the employee. She does mention a consideration that hadn’t occurred to me, that an employee might not just be surrendering privacy to their employer but also put in an indefensible position in the case of a law enforcement search.
Last, she mentions a case we should be following for the third case, United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing. She’s got my attention, anyone know of a judicial database where we can track these important cases?
