Corporate investigations
We will now discuss computer forensics from a civilian or non-law enforcement perspective. Since you are not an agent of the government, the search warrant requirement does not pertain to you. (Your specific jurisdiction may be different.) While you may not have the search warrant requirement, you cannot seize and analyze private property. What do I mean by that? You are the investigator for a large multinational corporation; you have an employee you believe is harassing other employees and may have viewed illicit images on their company laptop. What is the legal requirement for you to examine the contents of the employee’s laptop? If you are an agent of the government, the employee has an expectation of privacy. However, as an employee utilizing the company’s equipment, in the United States the courts have held that the employee has a limited expectation of privacy on the data in the device.
Important note
This may differ, depending...