Question

BUSINESS CASE PROBLEM WITH SAMPLE ANSWER: Privacy. Using special software, South Dakota law enforce-ment officers found a person who appeared to pos-sess child pornography at a specific Internet protocol address. The officers subpoenaed Midcontinent Communications, the service that assigned the address, for the personal information of its subscriber. With this information, the officers obtained a search warrant for the residence of John Rolfe, where they found a laptop that con-tained child pornography. Rolfe argued that the subpoenas vio-lated his “expectation of privacy.” Did Rolfe have a privacy interest in the information obtained by the subpoenas issued to Midcontinent? Discuss

Answer 1

No, Rolf did not have a privacy interest in the information obtained by the subpoenas issued to Midcontinent. The right to privacy is ensured by the bill of rights and to claim violation of expectation of privacy, the person must have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the particular situation. Situations involving personal banking and use of credit cards can have reasonable expectation of privacy, but a situation where the user is possessing child pornography cannot have reasonable expectation of privacy as it is illegal. The invasion should be highly offensive to sue for invasion of privacy. The invasion cannot be considered as offensive as the enforcement officers have involved in the act as part of their duty and the subpoena is issued to find the evidence for the crime. The internet service provider can disclose the personal information about the customer when it is ordered by a court. Hence Ralf has no reasonable expectation of privacy in the personal information given to Midcontinent.