Got a warrant?

[hnumpah]

Whether somebody looks at your library records with a nice piece of paper in hand or not the effect will be the same.  The only difference is, if they have the piece of paper and you have been downloading kiddy porn while they are looking for someone else, they can now LEGALLY drag your butt to jail too.   They were in a legal search and came upon your illegal activity reasonably.  If they have no warrant, the case goes out the window.

Wrong. The warrant should have been written such that anything other than what they were specifically looking for - and they would have had to provide that information to get the warrant - could not be used as evidence. Anything other than information specifically pertaining to the case they were working on and that the warrant was written for would have been inadmissible in court, and could also not be used to start a separate investigation of a separate crime later without tainting that case.

[Stray Pooch]

You may be right about that, hnumpah, but you may not.  I'd have to go to Domer for the answer to that.  (Where has he been anyway?)

I do know that if a police officer finds evidence of a crime while engaged in a legal search, even if it is not related to the search, that evidence is admissible.  If you are pulled over for a traffic stop and a cop sees a joint on the floor, you're busted.  If he then opens the trunk (having probable cause now to search) and finds a body, you goin' down.

To the point of our discussion, however, either way, the presence or absence of a warrant makes no difference to anyone.  If you can't be busted WITH a warrant you sure as hell can't be busted WITHOUT it.