Database snooping affirmed illegal (Baseball drug test seizure)

[BadgerKid]

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that federal investigators' seizure of drug-test results of more than 90 major league baseball players five years ago was illegal.

The decision recommended new guidelines for computer searches to prevent investigators from using information about people who are not named in a search warrant but whose private data is stored on a computer being searched.

Investigators looking into steroid use by professional baseball players obtained search warrants and subpoenas for the drug tests results on 10 major league players, but they took the results on 104 players.

The Major League Baseball Players Association sued for the return of the seized results, while the government argued investigators should be able to use them since they were "in plain sight" along with the other results during the search.

{snip}

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/26/steroids.ruling/index.html

[Buzz Clik]

1. In plain sight? Damn. Imagine these people in a doctor's office.

[Forkboy]

2. This is a good thing.

As much fun as I have in the Sports Forum busting on Bonds and Papi and A-Roid, I was never comfortable with these records coming out. This is personal medical information, and being a ball player doesn't negate their right to medical privacy, regardless of how it affects the league. While I don't think the government is the one leaking the names (most likely it's someone around the NY Times), they did take the records of these other 94 wrongfully, imo.