CA10: NCMEC’s receipt of suspected CP from AOL was subject to GFE

The good faith exception applies to NCMEC’s receipt of suspected child pornography from AOL from an account holder. NCMEC objectively relied upon a statute that had never been challenged before. United States v. Ackerman, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 5806 (10th Cir. Feb. 26, 2020):

Given the breadth of the statutory scheme and Ackerman’s inability to distinguish Krull, we conclude that NCMEC’s search of Ackerman’s email fell within the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule because NCMEC acted in ‘objectively reasonable reliance’ on the statutory scheme. This conclusion is ‘bolstered [by the fact that] at the time of the events in question (April 2013), no court had even considered NCMEC a governmental entity or agent of law enforcement.’ Id. at 1275-76. NCMEC had no reason to suspect that its actions could have violated the Fourth Amendment and thus there would be no deterrent value in suppressing the fruits of this search.