Opinion ID: 3038336
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Absence of Search Protocol

Text: [13] The defendant also argues that the search warrant was overbroad because it did not include a search protocol to limit the officers’ discretion as to what they could examine when searching the defendant’s computer media, nor did the affidavit explain why such a protocol was unnecessary. We, like the district court, find no error in the search warrant on this ground and adopt the district court’s analysis: Defendant also argues that the warrant was over- broad because it did not define a “search methodology.” He claims that the search should have been limited to certain files that are more likely to be associated with child pornography, such as those with a “.jpg” suffix (which usually identifies files containing images) or those containing the word “sex” or other key words. Defendant’s proposed search methodology is unreasonable. “Computer records are extremely susceptible to tampering, hiding, or destruction, whether deliberate or inadvertent.” United States v. Hunter, 13 F. Supp. 2d 574, 583 (D. Vt. 1998). Images can be hidden in all manner of files, even word processing documents and spreadsheets. Criminals will do all they can to conceal contraband, including the simple expedient of changing the names and exten- sions of files to disguise their content from the casual observer. Forcing police to limit their searches to files that the suspect has labeled in a particular way would be much like saying police may not seize a plastic bag containing a powdery white substance if it is labeled “flour” or “talcum powder.” There is no way to know what is in a file without examining its con- tents, just as there is no sure way of separating tal9396 UNITED STATES v. HILL cum from cocaine except by testing it. The ease with which child pornography images can be disguised — whether by renaming sexyteenyboppersxxx.jpg as sundayschoollesson.doc, or something more sophisticated — forecloses defendant’s proposed search methodology. Hill, 322 F. Supp. 2d at 1090-1091; see also Adjani, ___ F.3d at ___, 2006 WL 1889946 at  (rejecting defendants’ argument that officers should have looked at only specified areas of certain email programs for enumerated keywords because “[t]o require such a pinpointed computer search, restricting the search to an email program or to specific search terms, would likely have failed to cast a sufficiently wide net to capture the evidence sought”). [14] Moreover, in contrast to our discussion of the overbroad seizure claim above, there is no case law holding that an officer must justify the lack of a search protocol in order to support issuance of the warrant. As we have noted, we look favorably upon the inclusion of a search protocol; but its absence is not fatal. We have also held that even though a warrant authorizing a computer search might not contain a search protocol restricting the search to certain programs or file names, the officer is always “limited by the longstanding principle that a duly issued warrant, even one with a thorough affidavit, may not be used to engage in a general, exploratory search.” Id. The reasonableness of the officer’s acts both in executing the warrant and in performing a subsequent search of seized materials remains subject to judicial review. See United States v. Rettig, 589 F.2d 418, 423 (9th Cir. 1978) (“Where evidence is uncovered during a search pursuant to a warrant, the threshold question must be whether the search was confined to the warrant’s terms. . . . [T]he search must be one directed in good faith toward the objects specified in the warrant or for other means and instrumentalities by which the UNITED STATES v. HILL 9397 crime charged had been committed. It must not be a general exploratory search . . . .” (internal quotation marks omitted)).14