Cyberlaw, Plain View, and Officer Inadvertence

Date: Wednesday, June 30, 2021, 2:00 – 2:45 PM EST

Webinar Description:

As the age of technology has taken this country by surprise, many courts are forced to adapt by applying pre-technology rules to new technological scenarios. One illustration is the plain view exception to the Fourth Amendment. Recently, the issue of officer inadvertence at the time of the search, a rule that the United States Supreme Court has specifically stated is not required in plain view inquiries, has been revisited in cyberlaw cases. It could be said that the courts interested in the existence of officer inadvertence, despite its lack of necessity, are properly doing so as a means of analysis for cyber cases to more suitably adjust to the searches of computers and related technology. The Tenth Circuit has knowingly disregarded Supreme Court precedent, and this continues its disagreement with the Fourth Circuit. This perpetuates a circuit split that should be resolved by the Supreme Court. In anticipation of a judicial resolution, this article was written to outline the problem and explain the positions of the circuits that have addressed this issue.

 

Learning Objectives:

 

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Speaker

Michelle Zakarin, J.D., Associate Professor of Legal Process, Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center

Professor Zakarin has been teaching Legal Process, the first year legal research and writing course, since 2003 and, in 2010, she proposed and developed the course Cybercrime which she has been teaching, when offered, since its adoption.  With an undergraduate degree in Computer Science, she combined her interest in technology with her interest in the law by creating this popular elective course. In Cybercrime, law students study issues involving technology and the applicability of the Fourth Amendment, statutory regulations in obtaining stored data, cyberbullying, stalking, harassment and more. In 2014, she appeared on the Touro Law Center radio show, On the Docket, to discuss and answer questions about the United States Supreme Court case Riley v. California that ruled on whether cell phones found incident to a lawful arrest may be searched without a warrant.

She recently authored a book chapter in Millennial Leadership in Law Schools, to be published by Hein in 2020. Her chapter is titled, The Importance of Feedback and it discusses, among other things, the use of technology to provide feedback. Professor Zakarin has also presented at various academic conferences about the use of technology to provide meaningful feedback to students.

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Relevant Publications:

Professor Zakarin recently authored a book chapter in Millennial Leadership in Law Schools titled The Importance of Feedback and it discusses, among other things, the use of technology to provide feedback. View Professor Zakarin’s work on SSRN.