On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 4:46 PM, Jimmy Hess <mysidia@gmail.com> wrote:
On 11/29/12, William Herrin <bill@herrin.us> wrote:
If the computer at IP:port:timestamp transmitted child porn, a warrant for "all computers" is also too broad. "Computers which use said IP
As you know, there may always be some uncertainty about which computer was using a certain IP address at a certain time -- the computer assigned that address might have been off, with a deviant
Or more likely behind a NAT device where the address which presents is the NAT device. But the police won't know that until they search. Until they search they have no factual basis for the presumptions either that more than one computer was associated with the activity or that it isn't possible to readily identify which computer was involved. That Tor node was probably on a static IP address and was probably on the same static IP address at the time of the alleged activity. "Reasonable suspicion" doesn't mean Bob thinks you did it, it means that there's a trail of facts which lead *directly* to the evidence you seek permission to seize. The trail to child porn doesn't include the right to seize the stack of John Denver music and while it might include the right to search the shelf of DVDs it doesn't include the right to seize the ones produced by Disney. The right to search your computer and the right to seize it are not at all the same thing. Practically speaking, right now the police are going to seize all your computers. But keep watching. Some time in the next decade or two warrants will start to get quashed for failing to specify (by parameters) *which* computer they were looking for. As computers become more central to our lives it will probably come out that they have the right to duplicate your hard drives and other read/write media but don't have a right to take the originals unless they observe warrant-covered material *on* the computer while searching. Regards, Bill Herrin -- William D. Herrin ................ herrin@dirtside.com bill@herrin.us 3005 Crane Dr. ...................... Web: <http://bill.herrin.us/> Falls Church, VA 22042-3004