There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in computer placed in public place with no effort to shield contents from public inspection or access

SEARCH & SEIZURE United States v. Barrows, No. 06-6274, ___ F.3d ___ (10th Cir. Apr. 3, 2007)(W.D. Oklahoma). Appeal of conviction for possession of child pornography. HELD: Defendant lacked reasonable expectation of privacy in contents of computer files where he: (1) used personal computer for business purposes; (2) placed computer in busy area with public access; (3) left computer connected to workplace network; (4) allowed unsupervised and un-password protected access to other employees. Therefore, reserve police officer’s search of computer while acting as troubleshooter attempting to diagnose problem with workplace computer network did not violate Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure. Read the opinion here.