EFF: Service Technicians Can't Snoop on Your Hard Drive for the Government

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: EFF: Service Technicians Can't Snoop on Your Hard Drive
for theGovernment
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 16:23:09 -0700
From: EFF Press <[email protected]>
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation
To: [email protected]

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Monday, August 15, 2005

Contact:

Kurt Opsahl
   Staff Attorney
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   [email protected]
   +1 415 436 9333 x106

Service Technicians Can't Snoop on Your Hard Drive for the
Government

EFF Weighs in on Computer Privacy Case in Washington

Washington - Imagine if the law permitted the people who service
your computer to share all the personal information on your hard
drive with the police, without your consent and without a search
warrant. A case on appeal to the Washington State Court of
Appeals, State v. Westbrook, threatens to allow just that,
turning your friendly neighborhood computer repair technician
into a government informer.

Last week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a
friend-of-the-court brief in support of the respondent, Robert
Westbrook, arguing that citizens have a reasonable expectation of
privacy in the contents of their computers, and that their Fourth
Amendment rights don't disappear when a computer is delivered to
a technician for servicing.

When Westbrook dropped off his personal computer at a Gateway
Computer store for servicing, a technician saw private files on
the computer that he thought might be illegal.  Gateway called
the police, who searched through personal files on Westbrook's
hard drive looking for more evidence -- before ever getting a
warrant.  The trial court found, and EFF argues in its brief to
the appeals court, that this violated Westbrook's Fourth
Amendment rights.

"Customers who drop off their computers for servicing reasonably
expect that their private data won't be handed over to the police
without a warrant," said EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl.
"Allowing computer technicians to snoop on people's private data
is like putting surveillance cameras in dressing rooms.  The
violation of so many people's privacy far outweighs any benefits
that might be gained.  It would mean you couldn't use a personal
computer for personal business."

EFF was assisted on the brief by criminal appeals specialist
Suzanne Lee Elliott of Seattle, who served as local counsel.

Brief:
http://eff.org/Privacy/westbrook_brief_final.pdf

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_08.php#003900

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
organization working to protect rights in the digital world.
Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry
and government to support free expression and privacy online. EFF
is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most
linked-to websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/


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