May 14, 2002 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — A group of Internet firms said yesterday that a Minnesota court ruling that requires police officers to be present for search warrants would threaten the privacy of their clients, slow the process and disrupt business, Reuters reported.
The group, which includes the Computer and Communications Industry Association, NetCoalition and the United States Internet Service Providers Association, filed papers with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.
“A large Internet service provider can receive literally thousands of search warrants and other requests for information during the course of a year,” the brief said.
The brief also said that if the ruling was allowed to stand, “it is entirely possible that at any given time a dozen or more law enforcement officers would be on the premises of a given service provider.”
At the center of the argument is a search warrant that was issued to Web portal and Internet services firm Yahoo! in conjunction with a child pornography investigation. The warrant was faxed from Minnesota to the company’s headquarters in California, where employees retrieved the relevant information and sent it back to prosecutors in Minnesota.
The defendant argued his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure had been violated because the search was conducted by civilians, Reuters said. A judge agreed, stating that a police officer should have been present, and ordered officers to supervise future searches.
