{"id":1606,"date":"2008-02-03T13:17:21","date_gmt":"2007-12-16T13:19:44","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-12-16T13:19:44","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=1606","title":{"rendered":"Defendant’s failed effort to password protect files on his computer which could be accessed through a military network defeated his expectation of privacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy on his computer attached to a military base network in Saudi Arabia. He thought his files were password protected, but they were not, and his personal files were accidentally accessed by somebody finding child porn on his personal computer when it was attached to the network. Therefore, he had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the network. The court analogized it to a person having attempted to protect against others seeing the information but failing in the attempt. United States v. King<\/a>, 509 F.3d 1338 (11th Cir. 2007):<\/p>\n

We have held that tenants of a multi-unit apartment building do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the common areas of the building, where the lock on the front door is “undependable” and “inoperable.” United States v. Miravalles<\/em>, 280 F.3d 1328, 1333 (11th Cir. 2002). We have also held that even though a company has a subjective expectation of privacy in documents that are shredded and disposed of in a garbage bag that is placed within a private dumpster, the company’s “subjective expectation of privacy is not one that society is prepared to accept as objectively reasonable” when the company fails to “take sufficient steps to restrict the public’s access to its discarded garbage.” United States v. Hall<\/em>, 47 F.3d 1091, 1097 (11th Cir. 1995).<\/p>\n

King has not shown a legitimate expectation of privacy in his computer files. His experience with computer security and the affirmative steps he took to install security settings demonstrate a subjective expectation of privacy in the files, so the question becomes “whether society is prepared to accept [King’s] subjective expectation of privacy as objectively reasonable.” See id.<\/em> at 1094.<\/p>\n

It is undisputed that King’s files were “shared” over the entire base network, and that everyone on the network had access to all of his files and could observe them in exactly the same manner as the computer specialist did. As the district court observed, rather than analyzing the military official’s actions as a search of King’s personal computer in his private dorm room, it is more accurate to say that the authorities conducted a search of the military network, and King’s computer files were a part of that network. King’s files were exposed to thousands of individuals with network access, and the military authorities encountered the files without employing any special means or intruding into any area which King could reasonably expect would remain private. The contents of his computer’s hard drive were akin to items stored in the unsecured common areas of a multi-unit apartment building or put in a dumpster accessible to the public.<\/p>\n

Because his expectation of privacy was unreasonable King suffered no violation of his Fourth Amendment rights when his computer files were searched through the computer’s connection to the base network. It follows that his additional claim that the later search warrant was invalid because it incorporated information obtained from the search of his computer files also lacks merit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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