Police, DEA granted broad access to Fairbanks residents' utility records Read more:

fssalaska

Well-Known Member
FAIRBANKS - A judge or grand jury are not needed to force a utility cooperative to give police records of suspected pot growers, according to a Court of Appeals opinion reached Tuesday in a case involving GVEA and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

In late 2010, the DEA served the Fairbanks electricity co-op with a subpoena demanding the power consumption and payment records for three customers. GVEA resisted, citing a policy of protecting customers’ records. Fairbanks District Court Judge Ralph Beistline sided with the DEA’s authority to get the information with a subpoena.

In its appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Fairbanks attorney Michael Kramer argued GVEA should be able to invoke its customers' Fourth Amendment protection from search and seizure to refuse the DEA request without a probable cause search warrant from a judge.

In a unanimous published opinion, the three-judge panel of court of appeals judges disagreed.

“A customer ordinarily lacks a ‘reasonable expectation of privacy in an item,” like a business record, ‘in which he has no possessory or ownership interest,” wrote Judge William Fletcher, citing a 2000 case involving motel registration records.

The court also agreed with the DEA that electricity records were relevant to a drug investigation because higher-than-usual electricity use can be a sign of lamps used to grow marijuana. The court also ruled that the request for records from three customers was not “overly broad.”

During the process of the appeal, GVEA agreed to comply with the subpoena, making the case mostly a legal exercise.

The names of the GVEA customers are not given in the court opinion.
 

choop

Well-Known Member
thats fucking bullshit.. im a law student and ill tell you that the 9th circuit is incredibly progressive.......-sigh. oh well
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
FAIRBANKS - A judge or grand jury are not needed to force a utility cooperative to give police records of suspected pot growers, according to a Court of Appeals opinion reached Tuesday in a case involving GVEA and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

In late 2010, the DEA served the Fairbanks electricity co-op with a subpoena demanding the power consumption and payment records for three customers. GVEA resisted, citing a policy of protecting customers’ records. Fairbanks District Court Judge Ralph Beistline sided with the DEA’s authority to get the information with a subpoena.

In its appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Fairbanks attorney Michael Kramer argued GVEA should be able to invoke its customers' Fourth Amendment protection from search and seizure to refuse the DEA request without a probable cause search warrant from a judge.

In a unanimous published opinion, the three-judge panel of court of appeals judges disagreed.

“A customer ordinarily lacks a ‘reasonable expectation of privacy in an item,” like a business record, ‘in which he has no possessory or ownership interest,” wrote Judge William Fletcher, citing a 2000 case involving motel registration records.

The court also agreed with the DEA that electricity records were relevant to a drug investigation because higher-than-usual electricity use can be a sign of lamps used to grow marijuana. The court also ruled that the request for records from three customers was not “overly broad.”

During the process of the appeal, GVEA agreed to comply with the subpoena, making the case mostly a legal exercise.

The names of the GVEA customers are not given in the court opinion.
Fairbanks lacks natural gas (fricking amazing here in AK but true!). But in South Central we have it. Time to dig the underground generator house. Jet that sucker for natural gas and get after it. Have a second jetted for propane with a big tank on standby for when it turns to "just in case".
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
Maybe progressive ain't so great after all look at Obama he claims to be progressive. Yikes
Damn Obama on pot. He promised to not target medical marijuana and the DEA has gone nuts doing the exact frigging opposite. Too bad he's better than Mutt. You know Mutt would like to kill us all don't you?
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
I hate to be the wet towel here but consider this - if governments unknown managed to breach the security of Iran's nuclear program (you know good and well Iran was/is aided by Russia and China far more than by UN votes) and planted that Stux worm that disabled it, you think they haven't got Google-like (or hell even Google!) data mining your ass? Swipe your rewards card at Lowes and record everything you buy. Same at Safeway or anyplace you use a debit card or charge card? Any computer you sign on to using any unique identifier? Facial recognition software programs scanning numerous security or traffic cameras? We are screwed. Still better off here in AK. Watch "Enemy of the State" with Will Smith.
 

psillysimon

Well-Known Member
I would have to agree with the courts in that matter. I don't see how you could have a reasonable expectation of privacy when dealing with another entity such as a power company. it's a different matter what the DEA does with that information. I highly doubt that even with a customers high power consumption that they could compel a judge to issue a warrant to search for marijuana. they would have to have at least some direct knowledge in order to get a search warrant that the person is growing marijuana, other than just a high electrical bill.
 

tk86high

Member
Id like to say THIS IS ONLY FOR BIG DEALERS , If u are growing as much as them 3 people are which im sure its pounds per month then hell yeah u deserve to get caught and for the DEA to take a look at ur light bill to make more of a case against you !
U really think the DEA is gonna go though all that for some normal people like us on this forum that grow a few plants for personal use so we dont have to resort to the street buys ?!
Just saying , Im all for the end of prohibition on weed but the same goes if somebody was making liquor in their house at mass qty and was trying to sale it on the streets there would be no difference . Just trying to push liquor made by hand without a known label is harder then pushing a plant to sell.
 
Top