Digital Evidence Collection

Like most people, you probably travel familiar paths every day. When you walk down a street in your neighborhood or drive to work, do you feel that you could travel these routes easily while blindfolded? How would you feel if fog covered your familiar route one day? You might feel uncertain and hesitant trying to reach your destination. You might wander off the path inadvertently and get lost.

Prior to the proliferation of computers, law enforcement traveled the clear, familiar path of collecting physical evidence according to well-defined procedures. Computers and other devices have become important sources of evidence when building criminal cases against suspects. Their data can aid the prosecution significantly by providing a time-stamped record of incriminating evidence. These devices can contain personal data that is not relevant to criminal investigations, which raises privacy concerns. With digital evidence, law enforcement's familiar path of collecting evidence is cloaked in fog. Sometimes they have reached their destination and other times they have wandered off the path and gotten lost.

To prepare for this Discussion, find a state or federal case that provides a ruling on collecting digital evidence. The case should discuss privacy concerns and how the digital evidence was seized.

Post a 350- to 500-word response in which you explain what the central issues of the case are, how the Fourth Amendment applied to the case, and the ruling.

Includes references.