ComputerForensicsDigest.com

Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, issued a major decision with broad implications for personal privacy, Fourth Amendment search and seizure law, and electronic data storage. In the case of United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc. (a company involved in the Balco/baseball substance abuse investigation), the panel ruled that the government could not rely on the "plain view" doctrine to justify the use of electronic evidence that was seized and reviewed by federal agents during the execution of a search warrant for a much narrower set of electronic files.

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There is an interesting article this morning by long-time tech writer Declan McCullough in the CNN Police Blotter about the legality of warrantless searches of mobile devices. The question is taking on growing importance given the scope and quantity of information that such devices can hold.

So far, the courts have not settled on a single answer as to whether mobile devices can legally be searched during an arrest without a warrant. McCullough summarizes two recent cases that reached opposite results.

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