Sex Offenders Beware: New Ruling Affirms that Law Enforcement Can Access Your File-Sharing Platforms and Digital Fingerprints

By Robert Phillips
Deputy District Attorney (ret.)  

LEGAL CONCEPTS:

• The sharing of child pornography via a peer-to-peer file-sharing platform 
• A hash value as a digital fingerprint 
• Search warrants for electronic devices; establishing probable cause 
• Motion to suppress; search warrants 
• The forensic analysis of a defendant’s electronic devices 
• Selective prosecution of a convicted child molester 
• Judgment of acquittal   

RULES:

(1) Law enforcement may use “peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms” that can be used to distribute child pornography to identify those who possess child pornography and are offering it for public download. A search warrant is supported by probable cause if, based on the totality of the circumstances, the application establishes a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.  

(2) A Fourth Amendment search does not occur unless the defendant manifested a subjective expectation of privacy in the object of the challenged search and that society is willing to recognize that ....