On Fri, 26 Oct 2001, Tim May wrote:
On Friday, October 26, 2001, at 05:38 AM, Declan McCullagh wrote:
Too many totalitarian surveillance state measures to comment on, but the "sneak and peek" provision is such a slam dunk violation of the Fourth Amendment that it bears special comment.
Unfortunately, the Fourth doesn't ban secret searches it just bans warrantless ones. And that ban was destroyed years ago: UNITED STATES v. MILLER, 425 U.S. 435 (1976) http://laws.findlaw.com/us/425/435.html Held: Respondent possessed no Fourth Amendment interest in the bank records that could be vindicated by a challenge to the subpoenas, and the District Court therefore did not err in denying the motion to suppress. Pp. 440-446. Since then most of our "papers and effects" have been open to warrantless searches. Any good computer mechanics out there who can rig an electro-mechanical interface for a computer-actuated spring gun. Double-barreled shotgun pointed at the keyboard. Enter the right passphrase within 30 seconds of starting your session or be splattered across the monitor. DCF ---- "If you want to accurately foretell the future, predict war. You'll always be right." -- Robert Heinlein Worldcon 1976.