Fascism Creeps Another Inch

From Gregg Gascon, OEA Research Division:

At the last HEAC meeting, the question of personal computer seizures was brought up by faculty concerned over the BGSU case. I have discussed the case with our attorney and was told that yes, personal computer seizures are possible with a warrant in the case of a criminal investigation and a subpoena in the case of a civil matter. As you’ll recall, the BGSU professor had a flash disk stolen from him during a class. In the investigation which followed, he was asked to surrender his personal computer to the BGSU police. He received it back in damaged condition several months later. Many of you wanted to know if you used your personal computer to connect with the University to do work if you could be opening yourself up to such search and seizure. Apparently it is possible if the authorities have reason to believe that your computer was used improperly.

1 comment:

Brad Reed said...

Remember, too, that "personal" email accounts such as those from Hotmail or Yahoo! if used for substantial work (not just the occasional calendar reminder, etc.) may also be subject to public records laws.