Digital Evidence and the Fourth Amendment: United States v. Ganias and Judicial Recognition of the 'Right to Deletion'

Abstract

In United States v. Ganias, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided an important case that will have far-reaching implications for digital evidence in criminal cases. In Ganias, the court held that a defendant's Fourth Amendment rights were violated when the government, under a valid search warrant, made copies of the defendant's computer drives but then failed to delete the files which were outside the scope of the search warrant. This decision marks the first time a court has recognized a "right to deletion" under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Keywords: 4th Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Ganias, Constitution, Appeals, Appeal, search, seizure, search and seizure, warrant, search warrant, digital, evidence, evidentiary, suppress, suppression, computer, drive, delete, deletion, Constitutional, defendant, criminal, crime, privacy, hash