No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in Private PC Defendant Brought to Work and Failed to Password Protect

U.S. v. Barrows, --- F.3d ----, 2007 WL 970165 (10th Cir. April 3, 2007).

No reasonable expectation of privacy in the personal computer D brought to work.

D, a city employee, brought in his own computer so that he and his co-worker did not need to share one computer. He networked his computer into the city system, put it on the shared desk in an open public place, did not have a password shield, left it running at all times, and allowed his co-worker to use it. The co-worker experienced problems with the city computer, asked assistance from a reserve cop using the city fax machine, who formerly had been a computer salesman. He fiddled with the city computer, suspected that the linked D’s computer was slowing it down, could not open a city file for co-worker, thought maybe it was open on D’s computer, fiddled with D’s computer, saw he was file sharing and YUP, you got it, saw kiddie porn files. The rest is history.

Particularly important in the workplace setting, in determining no expectation of privacy in his personal computer, was D’s failure to install password protection on the computer, turn it off, or take any other steps to prevent third-party use.