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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE · PENNSYLVANIA ·
Confidentiality/Privilege
March 15, 2006
Newspaper's computers seized by government
officials
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State prosecutors investigating who accessed a
restricted government Web site seized computers from a newspaper
Tuesday.
March 15, 2006
· The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office seized four computers
of a Lancaster, Pa., newspaper Tuesday in search of information
about whether the county coroner illegally gave reporters access to
a restricted area of the coroner's Web site.
Senior Judge Barry F. Feudale, who presided over a grand jury
investigating how a restricted area of Lancaster County Coroner Dr.
G. Gary Kirchner's Web site was breached, agreed to allow
prosecutors access to the Intelligencer Journal 's computers.
The newspaper appealed, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined
to hear the case last week, allowing the prosecutors to search the
computers.
According to an article in the Lancaster New Era -- which
is owned by the same company as the Intelligencer -- the
Intelligencer offered to give the investigators printed versions
of the items they requested, including e-mails. Prosecutors turned
down the offer because they wanted to scan the computers for
additional information, the New Era reported.
The paper also reported that prosecutors plan to use "special
forensic equipment" that will scan the hard drives only for relevant
material. Feudale has stated that he will personally review all
material before it is given to prosecutors.
The newspaper's attorney, William A. DeStefano,
did not return phone calls.
http://www.rcfp.org/news/2006/0315-con-newspa.html
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