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*XHVWHWDOY/HLVHWDO 1RV
1. Seizure of Computer Contents
The warrant authorized the seizure of personal
communications related to the offense. Although there were
presumably communications on the computers that did not
relate to the offenses, "[a] search does not become invalid
merely because some items not covered by a warrant are
seized." United States v. Henson, 848 F.2d 1374, 1383 (6th
Cir. 1988). In Henson, a case affirming convictions involving
false odometer statements, we rejected a Fourth Amendment
challenge to the seizure of documents and computer files that
were unrelated to the offenses because we concluded that it
would have been unreasonable to require police to sort
through extensive files in a suspect’s office in order to
separate out those items that were outside the warrant. Id. at
1383-84; see also Davis v. Gracey, 111 F.3d 1472, 1481 (10th
Cir. 1997) (finding no Fourth Amendment violation when
defendants seized a bulletin board system computer that
contained personal communications unrelated to the crime
under investigation); United States v. Hay, 231 F.3d 630, 637-
38 (9th Cir. 2000) (finding no Fourth Amendment violation
in the search and seizure of a computer system in a child
pornography investigation); United States v. Upham, 168 F.3d
532, 536 (1st Cir. 1999) (same). In the instant cases, when
the seizures occurred, defendants were unable to separate
relevant files from unrelated files, so they took the computers
to be able to sort out the documents off-site. Because of the
technical difficulties of conducting a computer search in a
suspect’s home, the seizure of the computers, including their
content, was reasonable in these cases to allow police to
locate the offending files.
2. E-mail Search
Plaintiffs also allege that defendants read their e-mail, an
allegation defendants deny. Plaintiffs rely for evidence on the
following. A plaintiff testified as an expert witness that
certain log records were missing from the Guest CCC BBS
computers when the computers were returned; these logs
normally keep a record of the use of the computer, and the
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F. Qualified Immunity
According to plaintiffs, "Defendants Leis, Hamilton County
Sheriff’s Department and RECI cannot assert qualified
immunity" as "political subdivisions." Guest Br. at 46.
Qualified immunity may be asserted by government officials
sued in their individual capacity. Harlow, 457 U.S. at 807.
As the district court granted qualified immunity only to the
individual defendants, plaintiffs’ objections about immunity
for the sheriff’s department and RECI are unfounded. Sheriff
Leis was sued in his individual capacity (as well as in his
official capacity), so he may properly assert the defense in his
individual capacity. Because we have concluded that there
were no Fourth Amendment violations, the individual
defendants are all entitled to qualified immunity on the Fourth
Amendment claims asserted against them in their individual
capacities.
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expert testified that defendants must have deleted the log files
or prevented them from generating. The Guest plaintiffs also
refer to a paper printout of the computer directories, which
showed defendants’ check marks next to several directory
names, including a directory labeled "e-mail."
The printout and absence of log files are not evidence that
the defendants read private communications. Plaintiffs are
essentially relying on an assumption that because defendants
could have read e-mail, there is evidence that they did read e-
mail. Defendants may legitimately have checked to see that
the contents of the directories corresponded to the labels
placed on the directories. Suspects would otherwise be able
to shield evidence from a search simply by "misfiling" it in a
directory labeled "e-mail." In the Guest case, defendants had
a list of file names and thus could conduct their search by
reviewing the file names in a directory, without actually
opening the files and viewing the contents. While we
construe the facts on summary judgment in the light most
favorable to the nonmoving party, "[t]he mere existence of a
scintilla of evidence in support of the plaintiff’s position will
be insufficient; there must be evidence on which the jury
could reasonably find for the plaintiff." Mitchell v. Toledo
Hosp., 964 F.2d 577, 581 (6th Cir. 1992) (quoting Anderson
v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252 (1986)). Plaintiffs’
assumptions are insufficient to establish a genuine issue of
fact regarding an e-mail search.
3. Search of Subscriber Information
Plaintiffs argue that defendants violated the Fourth
Amendment by accessing bulletin board subscriber
information. These records include information such as
subscribers’ names, addresses, birthdates, and passwords. As
we have noted above, a person must have a reasonable
expectation of privacy in the matter searched in order to
challenge a search under the Fourth Amendment. Individuals
generally lose a reasonable expectation of privacy in their
information once they reveal it to third parties. See United
States v. Miller, 425 U.S. 435, 443 (1976), limited by statute.

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*XHVWHWDOY/HLVHWDO 1RV
A bank customer, for instance, does not have a legitimate
expectation of privacy in the information that he or she has
conveyed to the bank; by placing the information under
control of a third party, the customer assumes the risk that the
bank will convey the information to the government. Id.
Courts have applied this principle to computer searches and
seizures to conclude that computer users do not have a
legitimate expectation of privacy in their subscriber
information because they have conveyed it to another
person&the system operator. See Maxwell, 45 M.J. at 418;
United States v. Kennedy, 81 F. Supp. 2d 1103, 1110 (D. Kan.
2000) (rejecting a privacy interest in subscriber information
communicated to an internet service provider); United States
v. Hambrick, No. 99-4793, 2000 WL 1062039, at *4 (4th Cir.
Aug. 3, 2000) (unpublished) (holding that defendant
destroyed any privacy interest in his subscriber information
when he conveyed it to an internet service provider) (citing
Miller, 425 U.S. at 442). We conclude that plaintiffs in these
cases lack a Fourth Amendment privacy interest in their
subscriber information because they communicated it to the
systems operators. In addition, in the O’Brien case,
subscriber information would be that of the users, who do not
have Fourth Amendment standing.
4. Software Search
Plaintiffs also assert that defendants exceeded the scope of
the warrant when they searched for unlicenced software. The
only individual with a privacy interest in the software would
be the person possessing the software, i.e., the computer’s
owner or the system operator. In the Guest case, the owner
and bulletin board operator, Robert Emerson, is not a party to
the case. In the O’Brien case, although the owner and
operator are parties, the warrant listed the offense of
"possession of unlicenced property," so the search for
unlicenced software in that case was clearly authorized by the
warrant.
1RV *XHVWHWDOY/HLVHWDO
D. Particularity
Plaintiffs argue that the warrant failed to describe with
sufficient particularity the things to be seized. They seem to
base this argument on the warrant’s failure to particularly
identify communications or subscriber information. A search
warrant must particularly describe the things to be seized, but
the description, whose specificity will vary with the
circumstances of the case, will be "valid if it is as specific as
the circumstances and the nature of the activity under
investigation permit." Henson, 848 F.2d at 1383 (quoting
United States v. Blum, 753 F.2d 999, 1001 (11th Cir. 1985)).
In the instant cases, the warrants required that the
communications and computer records pertain to the listed
offenses. Defendants could not have obtained more specific
identification of e-mails and subscriber data, which were not
accessible to them. The description was thus particular
enough as the circumstances permitted for these items.
Moreover, since plaintiffs have not established that their
communications were searched, there would be no harm from
an alleged defect in the warrant regarding any of the
communications.
E. Probable Cause
Plaintiffs assert that the warrants did not state "probable
cause to believe that the Plaintiffs’ public and private
communications, and their subscriber information, was
evidence of a crime." Guest Brief at 43. Plaintiffs do not
dispute in their briefs that defendants had probable cause to
search for evidence of crimes on the computers. As we have
already determined, the difficulty of locating and extracting
these images meant that a seizure of the whole computer
system was not unreasonable, so long as there was probable
cause to conclude that evidence of a crime would be found on
the computer. An analysis of probable cause to search the
materials is unnecessary since plaintiffs have failed to
establish that their communications were searched, and they
lack a privacy interest in their subscriber information.

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