CARNAL NATION

The Supreme Court today declined to intervene in the case of a Pennsylvania man whose computer was searched by a Circuit City employee without his permission. Kenneth Sodomsky took his computer to a Circuit City store to have a new DVD drive installed, and while it was there, the tech snooped in his files and found suspected child porn. Police seized the computer and, after obtaining a warrant, found child pornography. Sodomsky asked the court to suppress the evidence, claiming that the Circuit City employees had no right to search his computer and show any of its contents to police.

The trial judge agreed, but the decision was overturned on appeal. The appellate court ruled that Sodomsky ran the risk of his illegal files being found and viewed by taking the computer out of his house and to the store.

While the subject of this case was child pornography, which, it should go without saying, we find disturbing and abhorrent, the broader issue applies to any potentially embarrassing image or video on your computer.  

Given the ubiquity of video cameras and the propensity of people to film their sex lives, this case stands as a clear reminder to practice safe computing: Encrypt files you don't want read; use an external hard drive for your porn stash; and store it securely when it's not in use. Always assume that anybody who has access to your computer will look around for "interesting" files.