Investigators’ seizure of computers to be banned

By Kim Rahn

Investigators will not be able to seize computers or hard disks during raids, following a new rule designed to protect business secrets and a suspect’s right to privacy.

The Supreme Court said Thursday that the revised Criminal Procedure Law, which took effect on Jan. 1, bans such practices in a new clause on obtaining information from computers when looking for evidence.

The clause limits the information investigators can seize and enforces them to only copy or print out data.

“So far, there was no specific regulation on the issue, and investigators seized computers, servers and hard disks, and copied or printed out all saved information, even data unrelated to the investigation,” a top court official said.

“Such a practice was criticized for infringing on human rights and business privacy as a company’s business secrets could be revealed. We hope the new rule will prevent such problems,” he said.

The clause has an exception: Investigators will be allowed to seize computers only when it is impossible to copy or print the required data.

“Even in that case, such a seizure should be included in the raid warrant in advance, and investigators can’t collect information unrelated to the crime at their discretion,” the official said.

When seizing telecommunication data such as email, the seizure warrant should also stipulate a specific period, so that investigators can only look at email exchanged during that time.

The new rule will also apply strict conditions for a raid warrant, which will be issued when “there is circumstantial evidence that a suspect is likely to have committed a crime.” The previous rule only said, “Investigators can raid when needed in probing crimes.”

“We expect investigators to be more cautious when planning raids,” the official said.