The federal computer crime statute criminalizes accessing a computer “without authorization” or “exceeding authorized access,” with the important caveat that no one seems to know what it mean to access a computer “without authorization” or to “exceed authorized access.” See 18 U.S.C. 1030. The concepts are particularly tricky in the case of a written restriction […]
Archive | Computer Crime Law
Legal Protection for Historical Cell-Site Records
Next week a panel of the Third Circuit will be hearing oral argument in a case that considers whether federal law requires a warrant for the government to obtain historical cell-site records. I blogged a bit about this when the District Court’s decision was handed down, and I thought I would say a bit more […]
Plain View for Computer Searches Generates Two Circuit Splits in Two Days: United States v. Williams and United States v. Mann
Should courts adopt a new set of Fourth Amendment rules to regulate how the police can search computers for evidence? In particular, does the fact that so much electronic evidence outside the scope of a warrant can come into “plain view” during a computer search require a different approach to whether that evidence outside the […]
United States v. Payton Update
Two weeks ago, I wrote a post seeking updates on United States v. Payton, a Ninth Circuit computer search and seizure decision that I think was wrongly decided. Howard Bashman notes that on Friday the Ninth Circuit handed own this seven-page order explaining what happened. It seems that there was interest in rehearing the case […]
New Case on Computer Searches, Encryption, and Plain View: United States v. Kim
A federal district court in Texas recently handed down a new case on the scope of computer warrant searches that shows how important and yet uncertain the rules of computer search and seizure are these days: United States v. Kim, — F.Supp.2d —, 2009 WL 5185389 (S.D. Texas 2009). The case was handed down December […]
Restitution for Victims of Child Pornography
By Paul Cassell on January 5, 2010 11:57 am in Computer Crime Law, Crime Victims Rights, Criminal Law
Yesterday U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz of the District of Minnesota issued an interesting order regarding a restitution application in a child pornography case. In his order, found here, Judge Schiltz chastises the government for failing to pursue restitution for child pornography cases in his district, even though Congress has made restitution mandatory in such cases. […]
DOJ Files Brief Supporting Super-En-Banc in CDT
Yesterday the Justice Department filed its Brief in Support of Rehearing En Banc By the Full Court in United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing, the blockbuster computer search and seizure case I have blogged a lot about. From the introduction: The en banc panel’s decision announced sweeping new rules for warrants to search computers that […]
Computer Crime Law, Second Edition
I’m pleased to announce that the Second Edition of my Computer Crime Law casebook has just been published. A few quick points about it, for those who are interested in such things: 1. About 20% of the main cases are new, reflecting the dramatic caselaw development in the field since the 1st edition came out […]