Reason: Internet Preservation and the Fourth Amendment—Case Updates, Part I

Reason, The Volokh Conspiracy: Internet Preservation and the Fourth Amendment—Case Updates, Part I by Orin S. Kerr (“The first of two rulings, and why I find it unpersuasive.”):

It is a common practice among criminal investigators to “preserve” Internet accounts without cause. When an investigator learns that a suspect has a Facebook or email account, the investigator will direct the provider to run off and save a copy of the suspect’s entire account and to hold it for the government. If, weeks or months later, the investigator can eventually develop probable cause, the investigator can come back with a warrant and order the provider to hand over the previously-preserved account files. And if the investigator never develops probable cause, the provider will usually realize eventually that the government isn’t coming back, and it will usually then delete the extra government-ordered account records. This procedure is called “Internet preservation,” and it’s done in the name of a provision of the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2703(f).