Computer Search Warrant Tampa - Overbroad

Tampa Federal Criminal Defense Attorney, Lawyer W.F. ''Casey'' Ebsary, Jr. , noted a recent case decided on the scope of search warrants issued in computer cases. Wired magazine noted:

"A divided 11-judge federal appeals court panel has dramatically narrowed the government’s search-and-seizure powers in the digital age, ruling Wednesday that federal prosecutors went too far when seizing 104 professional baseball players’ drug results when they had a warrant for just 10."

The Court suggested that during a computer’s hard drive search, data should be culled to include the specific data described in the search warrant. The entire hard drive should not be subject to a wholesale review. When the entire drive is seized, an independent third party should review the data. The information should be limited by the Court. The term "filter teams" has been used to refer to the third party who review data seized by a search warrant.

The Appeals Court stated that the judge reviewing the search warrant application should “deny the warrant altogether” if the government does not agree to a third-party review in cases where data will be searched.

Has your data been the subject of a Search Warrant? We can help. Call Toll Free 1-877-793-9290 .

Source: wired.com/threatlevel/2009/08/privacyboost/

Computer Search Warrant Tampa - Overbroad