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News Briefs

By ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |
April 19, 2006

Ninth Circuit Supports Search Warrant for Web Site Member; But Conservative and Liberal Judges Dissent

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided that mere membership in a pornographic Web site containing both legal and illegal porn is enough to authorize the FBI to search a home computer (U.S. v. Gourde, No. 03-30262).

The case arose when Micah Gourde, 29, of Castle Rock, WA, paid $19.95 per month for a 2-month membership in a pornographic Web site, www.lolitagurls.com, which contained pictures of legal adult porn as well as illegal child pornography. FBI agents raided the owners of the lolitagurls Web site in Iowa, confiscated the host computer, and prosecuted the owner. They also sought a warrant to search Gourde's computer, arguing that there is a 'fair probability' that customers of child pornography Web sites download the illegal images. Gourde challenged the warrant based on the Fourth Amendment and sought to suppress more than 100 images of child pornography seized from his home computer.

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