Last week I came across an article about how some electronic data (files, user records and private messages) have become evidence in a criminal trial. Apparently, the FBI seized the company’s whole Data Center setup, including the hardware, software and web presence.
So today, after running across a questionable OP, I got to wondering: What happens if one of our threads becomes evidence in a criminal investigation? Is there any risk that the SDMB could be confiscated during the course of an official inquiry? Further, do we have some kind of contingency plan?
Since this is probably just a theoretical scenario, I thought I’d put it here. I hope this was the correct place to post.
I think that one thing that makes the SDMB different from most other web sites is that it is part of the Chicago Reader, an actual bona fide newspaper.
Warrants, judges and police all behave quite differently when a newspaper is involved. Efforts are made to avoid the appearance of censorship, as impounding computers would certainly be viewed. It would be more likely that warrants for copies would be requested, the Chicago Reader’s lawyers would invoke various First Amendment rights, the govt. would claim those rights don’t apply and it would take a while before the SCOTUS gets to finally rule on it.
In the meantime the Chicago Reader would have permanently shut down the SDMB since the legal fees would be staggering. (Hence one of the key rules here: don’t do anything that would bring a horde of lawyers down on them.)