Posted by Orin Kerr:
Does the Automobile Exception Permit a Search of Computers Found in the
Vehicle?:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_08_16-2009_08_22.shtml#1250824404
Under the so-called "automobile exception" to the warrant requirement,
the police can search a car for evidence without a warrant --
including any containers in the car -- if they have probable cause to
believe that evidence is in the car and that evidence could be located
in the place they search. But does this apply to computers? That is,
if the police find a laptop in a car, can they search the laptop
without a warrant under the automobile exception?
I'm not aware of any court having ruled on this issue before, but
last week the Tenth Circuit came close: Its opinion in [1]United
States v. Burgess spent several pages pondering this question before
deciding not to decide the issue. If you're interested, check out the
discussion at pages 13-20. The opinion also has a very interesting
discussion about different ways of limiting the scope of computer
searches later in the opinion.
References
1. http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/08/08-8053.pdf
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