No no no!
This is the dummest thing the new American Reign of Terror Flying Monkeys can adopt.
After the criminal shenanigans of the State Dept, the CIA, IRS, Health and Human service and the State Department have pulled, any evidence that those flying Monkeys try to present in court, as a result of this abuse, won't be worth a bucketful of spit!
Bring
it
on!!
"Your Honor, this criminal internet post by the accused was NOT falsified by us; Trust us, your Honor!"
*snicker*
Very true.
I would think careful federals would actually prefer not to learn the target's password, lest they be seen to have contaminated the chain of custody.
If the prosecution produces damning evidence gleaned from a provider's servers, a possible defense is to claim the defendant didn't put it there, that someone else logged into the account and added the incriminating stuff. The last thing they need is for the defense to claim that someone was a G-man!
I’m just waiting for the first case where, due to these revelations, the jury acquits someone because of the “reasonable doubt” cast upon any Internet-based or digital evidence (and most evidence is going to be digital, with paper accounting files, and so on in decline). All it will take is one astute jury and one convincing defense attorney.
After that, it will be back to square one, with shoe leather and interviews for the coppers...