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The
United States Constitution: This is a link to FindLaw.com, which
organizes, sorts and discusses the U.S. Constitution.
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The
Florida Constitution: This is the Florida Constitution courtesy of
Online Sunshine.
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 | Consent Searches:
This chapter focuses on case law defining the parameters of a valid
consent to search.
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 | Expectations
of Privacy in Internet Communications: This chapter discusses 4th
Amendment expectations of privacy in emails, chat rooms, peer to peer
networks and ISP records.
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Miscellaneous
Issues: This chapter contains some case summaries on
computer-related issues that don't fit into a specific category.
Most of these are not search and seizure-related.
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 | Particularity
Requirements: This chapter focuses on the particularity requirements
of a search warrant. Special emphasis is placed on searches of
computers.
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 | Plain
View: This chapter covers some cases regarding the plain
view doctrine applied to searches.
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 | Probable
Cause in Child Pornography Cases: This chapter discusses the
various probable cause issues that arise in child pornography cases dealing
with computers and the Internet.
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 | Entrapment:
This is not actually a Fourth Amendment issue, but it is related to the
emphasis on computer crimes stressed in this section. This chapter
is actually an eighteen page legal memo discussing the history of
entrapment law in Florida and specifically how it applies to the
investigation of Internet crimes against children. This chapter should
grow considerably with time.
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 | Workplace
Searches: This chapter covers 4th Amendment issues arising when a
public or private employer searches an employees computers.
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Searching
and Seizing Computers and Obtaining Electronic Evidence in Criminal Investigations
by the U.S. Department of Justice: This is a very well-written
summary of the federal law on searching and seizing computers and computer
data. It is almost two hundred pages long, but well worth reading.
The appendix contains several sample warrants and court orders etc... You can
download the file in either Adobe Format or WordPerfect format. If you
don't use WordPerfect, Adobe will have to do. It looks very good on the
screen, but it does not print quite as well.
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 | Stored Wire and Electronic
Communications and Transactional Records Access (Electronic Communications
Privacy Act)
18 U.S.C. 2701 - 2711: This is the federal act that dictates the
procedures necessary to obtain information from electronic service providers
such as ISPs. Please refer to this section prior to issuing warrants,
court orders or subpoenas to Internet Service Providers.
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Electronic
Communications and Privacy Act Flow Chart: This is a flow chart I
created to simplify the requirements of this federal code dictating the
requirement for obtaining information from Internet Service Providers and
similar entities. For the full text, see the text of the code at 18
U.S.C. 2703. Please note that the flow chart must be viewed in
print layout view of Microsoft Word.
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 | Search and Seizure Forms: This
section contains various forms to assist law enforcement in searching and
seizing computer data. Sample search warrants, affidavits,
computer-specific language and other similar information are included.
This section is password protected and only available to law
enforcement. Please email me at
with your name and agency and I'll send you a password. |