Judge Rules Man Waived Privacy Claims After Leaving USB Drive in Shared PC
Judge Rules Man Waived Privacy Claims After Leaving USB Drive in Shared PC
Posted 04/14/2010 at 6:21am
| by Paul Lilly
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Octavius Durdley, an emergency paramedic with the Bradford County Emergency Services (BCES) in Florida, is going to have a tough time gaining any sympathy for his plight. You see, Durdley was charged last September with possessing and distributing child pornography, but it's how the evidence was obtained that is likely to cause a few outcries in the case.
Durdley-do-wrong committed a big no-no, and we're not talking about the (allegedly) obvious one here. What landed Durdley in hot water was accidentally leaving a USB flash drive plugged into a computer provided by the BCES, a PC that's shared by him and other members of the emergency service.
A supervisor discovered the files and turned Durdley in to authorities. This ultimately led to a search of his house, both of which Durdley claims are violations of his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. Judge Maurice Paul of the U.S. District Court for the northern district of Florida didn't agree.
"Durdley's files were exposed to anyone who sat down at the computer station who used the traditional means for opening and viewing files," the judge wrote in a 15-page ruling. Furthermore, the supervisor who discovered the files did so without any "special means or intruding into any area which Durdley could reasonably expect to remain private."
Ignoring the nature of the alleged crime, what are your thoughts on this? Is forgetting to pull your USB key out of a shared PC cause for others to poke around?
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blindhorizon
April 19, 2010 at 12:51pm
i dont know about this one....searching his home i think was the right thing to do because of the nature of the crime. like you mentioned the drug thing, drugs are not of the hanus nature as child porn. in this case it was the right thing to do.
cup
April 14, 2010 at 7:55pm
That he left the flash drive plugged into a corporate PC means that he, most likely, lost any privacy expectations - most corp. IT policies reflect this. It is their equipment, after all.
Given that, it's reasonable, IMHO, for a supervisor (IOW, his boss) to peruse the contents of said flash drive.
Boss sees kiddie porn on it (a flash drive that's plugged into his corp PC)? He's required to call the police.i'm quite the "civil liberties" person; however, I also believe in that ideal called "resopnsibility for one's actions." The defendant was an idiot (aside from doing something that's both illegal, and quite immoral.)
You want to do what he did? Keep it at home!~Cup
*nearly every day of my life is some kind of computer hell*
Cache
April 14, 2010 at 4:07pm
My post was denied by the spam filter. I pay for a monthly subscription to MPC, and expect better than to have every post denied.
Do better, MPC.
Vegan
April 14, 2010 at 5:32pm
It happens to me, too. It's pretty insulting, and I've never actually gone back to see if the posts made it up. I've never been contacted with so much as a "Sorry about that" after having to send a note to the administrator.
gendoikari1
April 14, 2010 at 3:56pm
Shouldn't naming your kid "Octavius" be a crime in and of itself?
Queenof1
April 14, 2010 at 2:12pm
The article didn't say that the USB flash belonged to the company, but clearly the PC did. Ignoring the contents of said USB drive, no expectation of privacy exists on a shared company PC (or printer for that matter). For this reason, I will rarely use the computer in our break room designated for employee use.
I'm not for The Man violating anyone's rights but it's just sickening that the dude is totally unrepentant for his actions.
whitneymr
April 14, 2010 at 1:46pm
What you are dealing with here is an unreasonable search. The fact that they didn't have to do any technical "tricks" to find and read the files means and they were in plain site makes this a reasonable search. So he's busted.
If the thumb drive was out of the computer or password protected he would most likely have been OK.
Your Mother was a hampster and your Father smelled of elderberries. Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.
frizzly
April 14, 2010 at 1:15pm
I am not takeing the time to retype my comment that the stupid spam blocker just blocked. ANNOYING!!!
Frizzly Mejere "Once you go down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."
roleki
April 14, 2010 at 12:54pm
The minute an external storage device is attached to a corporate IT asset, the owner of that storage device forfeits all claims to privacy. Good rule of thumb - if you wouldn't want your grandmother to see it, don't bring it to work with you.
trident60
April 15, 2010 at 1:20pm
Exactly right. Before you're even hired in anymore you sign a disclosure, or disclaimer notice warning you about computer use in the first place. You use the company PC, the company has the right to search anything you do on it. That's why anything personal, e-mail, or web surfing is warned away.
ibgeezer
April 14, 2010 at 12:17pm
Mr. Durdley has no reason to be upset. He did something wrong and left his trail in open and plain sight. He was found out by legitimate means on communal property. The supervisor is not to blame, but the supervisor could have searched for the owner first without 'looking' at the drive. There is no need to look at what if. If someone uses my computer, do I have not the right to look at the browsing history?
JohnP
April 14, 2010 at 10:50am
Fool around with private stuff at work. I have seen more people lose their jobs over doing so. Like earning money working? Then why steal from the company, abuse your privaleges, or do something dumb? Your salary is more than most folks earn than what they stole...
blindhorizon
April 14, 2010 at 10:05am
i have to agree if he was using the company computer and the company flash drive he waived his right to protect his privacy.
but i have to say that if i found a Flash drive plugged into a computer and i was the boss and no one was immediately around to claim it i would look at the drive and see if i could figure it out...you know do a good deed and give it back but once you find out whats on it and the identity of the owner you should feel obligated to turn them in for not only the protection of Children but so that they can get help.
goku_dsv
April 14, 2010 at 8:38am
Another example of things going wrong when you forget to "pull out" lol
robinjames
April 14, 2010 at 8:17am
The man was distributing kiddie porn.. While it is nice to have debate on privacy, this is not the right case. He should be in jail, and I don't care how it was done.
zepontiff
April 14, 2010 at 9:02am
I love how someone says the word children and people lose all common sense. My rights are far more important to me than other peoples kids.
n0b0dykn0ws
April 14, 2010 at 8:22am
That's a very dangerous position to take.
Let's say for a moment that child predators were not offered the same justice as everyone else.
Who is next? What if you're doing something as simple as altering code in a commercial program, and the property owner decides to convince the courts that it is a serious offense. What do you do when you're not offered the same protections as everyone else?
It's a whole lot of what ifs, but our court system is designed to lean in favor of the criminal for a reason.
n0b0dykn0ws
Neufeldt2002
April 14, 2010 at 8:10am
If no one was around to ask "is this yours?" the first logical thing to do is to look at the contents to see if you can tell from them, human nature. Because this was a company machine he waves all rights. If someone stashes Dope in a company vehicle that has been assigned to them and someone else finds it while doing something to the vehicle are they off the hook? Before you say not the same thing, it is.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Please fix the spam filter it does not work right.
RiderofDark
April 14, 2010 at 7:38am
He left it plugged into a computer that he knew was shared by other people.
It's like having some illegal drugs on the dashboard of your car with nobody inside. Yes, you're allowed to have some privacy. But if I look throughyour window to see a stash of weed or cocaine or whatever, you're caught. That's what happened.
Besides, I've seen plenty of places where I login that says that logging in and saving that information on a public/shared computer is strongly discouraged.
Now, if the USB drive had a clear indication on the physical drive itself on who it belonged to, then that can be used as a defence. Otherwise, looking on the drive to see who owned itwould be justifiable. I've come across lost cell phones and looked through it to finda number for the owner.
That the computer belongs to BCES also means that supervisors are authorized to look through the computer to monitor the ongoings of the computer's usage. E.g. check to see if people are spending time surfing sights they shouldn't be surfing, or wasting time/money by using the computer when they shouldn't be.
n0b0dykn0ws
April 14, 2010 at 7:15am
I'm not a lawyer or pretending to be one, but if he had left printed copies in a common work area it would be no different. If it had been a PC assigned only to him, similar to a locker, and his employer went through his possesions, I could see how it would be more of a grey area. (I don't know how the courts currently side on that, but I'm pretty sure employers have a right to search any and all areas at work.)
n0b0dykn0ws
I Jedi
April 14, 2010 at 7:42am
They have a right to search anything at work that belongs to THEM;however, the law says that no employer is allowed to go through your possessions without your explicit permission first. Now, this was a comapny USB drive on a company computer. This man had no right to privacy. Period.
bfree380
April 14, 2010 at 7:14am
I agree. If you leave an private document out in the open, in a public area, and it gets read, it's your own fault for leaving it out, and no one would blame the other person for reading it. The same should hold true for computer files (especially on a USB drive). If they are left "in the open," it's your own fault if they are viewed. Personally, I'm glad he got caught. One less idiot out there possessing and distributing child pornography.
Havok
April 14, 2010 at 7:09am
But I do think that it's just wrong to go through other's files without them knowing. At the computer repair shop I work in, we have never gone through anyones personal files without them being in the same room as us.
Mac OS X 10.6.3 "Bandaged Kitty" : Available now
Bender2000
April 14, 2010 at 8:39am
WHat would you do if you put some files on a clients computer, then you get arrested when the client takes the computer home and finds your files. You did not authorize them to look at your files, did you? That's the situation here.
Out of curiosity what is your policy if you were working on a client's PC and found some files?
I Jedi
April 14, 2010 at 7:07am
Well, not to mention that this was on a company PC, and so his right to privacy was probably already waived there, too. In all honesty, if you're doing something bad, like looking at child pornography, then why would you be so stupid as to put these files on a flash drive and take it to work? The dumbass rightful got what he deserved, and I hope he enjoys getting ass-raped by Big Jim for the next five years.
linkmaster6
April 14, 2010 at 6:55am
Seeing as how he willingly left it plugged in its his own fault. It wasn't stolen or forcably taken from his person or property.
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