I’ve been reading about electronic piracy, filesharing, Kim Dotcom, et al, and I’m just wondering what the US law is about 3rd party physical storage and illegal materials?
For example, if you own a storage centre, are you on the hook if the police discover something illegal in a storage unit you’ve rented to someone?
And yes, I’m aware that each of the 50 states may have a different answer.
Isn’t this why we have judges and juries? I think there is a test of reasonableness as to whether or not you the owner knew or should have known what your customers were doing. If you were renting to perfectly ordinary looking suburbanites storing random old household stuff and it turns out that one of them hid a CD of child porn in an old shoebox they threw in there, you’re probably ok. If you actively market in a high crime area with a “wink wink, nudge nudge” mindset and boast about how you specialize in discreet storage, not so much.
I realize that the Law and Reasonableness aren’t always on speaking terms, but I’d think that if you are in the storage space renting business, then for the most part it’s NYFB what your customers store in their space. However, if you knowingly look the other way while your customers stash drugs in their storage units, then you’re an acessory to their crimes.
This is analogous to what Kim Dotcom is accused of doing - that he set up a service that he knew damn well was storing illegal material. Hence, contributory copyright infringement.
So if the person knew, or reasonably should have know, that there was illegal material in the storage facility they manage, then they are liable.
Wired had a similar story, recently, IIRC. There was a guy in California whose business was building hidden compartments in vehicles (so your valuables would be immune from descovery in the event of a vehicle breakin… or traffic stop search).
Since he did not know what was in these compartments or what they were used for (specifically, illegal items) then he had no liability. The feds were frustrated that they could not find contraband in these compartments, and tried to pressure the guy into becoming an informant. He refused, on the principle that the first whiff of trouble, Mexican gangs would kill not only him but his family; that’s how they operate.
The feds then discovered that one day he had fixed a jammed compartment for someone, and in the process had found it was full of cash. They used this to charge him with participating in a conspiracy to traffic narcotics across the USA, and since he wouldn’t turn states’ evidence, he’s doing 30 years on the premise of “should have known it was illegal materials.”: