FC: Internet firms say police search rules endanger privacy

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 12:57:07 -0400
From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah () shipwright com>
Subject: ISPs Seek to Void Ruling on Police Searches

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A10999-2002May13?language=printer


washingtonpost.com

ISPs Seek to Void Ruling on Police Searches


Reuters
Monday, May 13, 2002; 7:01 PM


SAN FRANCISCO, May 13-Web giant Yahoo! Inc. and several Internet trade
associations filed papers Monday seeking to overturn a court ruling which
they said could fill the offices of Internet companies with police officers
overseeing the execution of search warrants.

In an amici curiae brief filed with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St.
Louis, the Internet group said a Minnesota court ruling requiring police
officers to be physically present for search warrants would threaten client
privacy, slow the searches and disrupt business.

"A large Internet service provider can receive literally thousands of
search warrants and other requests for information during the course of a
year," the brief said.

If the Minnesota ruling is allowed to stand, "it is entirely possible that
at any given time a dozen or more law enforcement officers would be on the
premises of a given service provider," it said.

The Minnesota case involved a search warrant that was issued on Yahoo! in
connection with a child pornography investigation. The warrant was faxed
from Minnesota to Yahoo's headquarters in Santa Clara, California, where
employees pulled up the requested information and sent it back to local
prosecutors.

[...]

-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah () ibuc com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'




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