Reason: Yes, Warrants Allow a Search Through the Whole Phone

Reason: Yes, Warrants Allow a Search Through the Whole Phone by Orin S. Kerr (“A comment on a mistaken way to limit computer searches— focusing on People v. Carson from the Michigan Court of Appeals.”):

As regular readers know, one of the big issues in computer search and seizure law that I often write about is how to limit computer warrant searches. If everything needs to be searched to find the evidence, and information outside the scope of the evidence sought can be used in plain view, doesn’t a search of a computer with a warrant result in a general search — the kind that the Fourth Amendment was enacted to prevent. My own answer to this puzzle is that the Fourth Amendment requires use restrictions for digital searches. The whole computer can be searched, but evidence outside the scope of the warrant cannot be used.

In the last year or two, however, a few state courts have tried to limit computer searches through novel interpretations of the particularity requirement. I think this is wrong, and I thought I would explain why.