So pervs just need to hide an empty USB drive or flash card for misdirection?
Better still, buy a few dozen (or hundred) small obsolete used flash drives, hard drives, etc., on eBay or Craig's List, fill them with innocuous data, and salt them around your house.
What a stupid idea.
Some bacon, maybe? Or hide a USB stick full of stuff downloaded from WhiteHouse.gov and the DNC website. Now THERE’S some offensive digital material.
Not quite empty —
Helen Thomas and Nancy Pelosi
“So pervs just need to hide an empty USB drive or flash card for misdirection?”
A recent SCOTUS decision stated that an “alert” from a dog is probable cause. So a dog trained to alert on some action of his handler gives the cops probable cause to search you. I doubt that there is a significant signature from a thumb drive that would stand out in an auto, given that most of the car interior is made of the same materials.
This means that if the dog is there they can search your car and take any and all digital media, since Fido sniffed your car.
Remember the courts just decided that the cops need probable cause and a warrant before they can search the information (like the memory card) in your phone. The dog is probable cause.