Posted on 08/08/2006 1:11:28 PM PDT by SmithL
AN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A Montana man who used his work computer to access child pornography does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy that would bar a search of the machine, a U.S. federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.
Jeffrey Ziegler had argued that his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures should prevent the government from using evidence that he had viewed many images of child pornography at work.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco cited similar past cases and found that even if some people lament the lack of privacy at work, the law was against Ziegler.
"Social norms suggest that employees are not entitled to privacy in the use of workplace computers, which belong to their employers and pose significant dangers in terms of diminished productivity and even employer liability," Diarmuid O'Scannlain wrote for a three-judge panel.
"Employer monitoring is largely an assumed practice, and thus we think a disseminated computer-use policy is entirely sufficient to defeat any expectation that an employee might nonetheless harbor."
Wow, how about that 9th circus?
Please tell me the ACLU took up this guy's case and lost it in front of their sugar daddies in SF. That would be the best..news...ever!
People need to get a clue. ...in fact, get two. They're small.
Amazing...Evidently Judge Reinhardt wasn't one of the three judges.
lol
Not only is he a sick SOB, he's a stupid, sick SOB.
what was the vote 3-0 or 2-1???
The pic isn't coming up but Reinhardt is the looniest left wing judge in the 9th Circuit and that's saying something.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day!
Seriously, I can't help but to wonder if they rule with some brains every so often just to keep folks from thinking they are 100% stupid...
So what? That doesn't mean government agents can come in and search it for evidence of crime anytime they want. The government needs the owner's consent. The opinion is dead wrong.
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