United States v. Forrester
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
512 F.3d 500 (2008)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
The government suspected Forrester and Alba (defendants) of manufacturing Ecstasy. To prove this, the government monitored Alba’s Internet usage by requesting that Alba’s internet service provider (ISP) install a “mirror port” at its facility. The mirror port provided the government access to the “to/from” addresses in Alba’s emails, the IP addresses of the websites that Alba visited (e.g,, the domain http://www.nytimes.com, but not the specific articles that Alba read), and the total volume of information sent to or from Alba’s account with the ISP. Based in part on this information, the trail court convicted the defendants. They appealed based on the grounds that the government’s conduct constituted illegal searches in violation of their Fourth Amendment rights.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Fisher, J.)
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