In a search warrant, can a computer be searched without the consent of the issuing judge?

of private information. Searches of computers therefore often involve a degree of intrusiveness much greater in quantity, if not different in kind, from searches of other containers. Such considerations commonly support the need specifically to authorize the search of computers in a search warrant, as Officer Horn requested in the present case. Despite his request, the warrant did not explicitly authorize the search of Payton's computer, and it incorporated Officer Horn's affidavit only to support probable cause, not to describe the objects to be searched or searched for. The after-the-fact testimony of the issuing judge that he intended expressly to authorize the search of computers could not cure the failure of the warrant to authorize the search of computers, because one purpose of a warrant is to inform the person subject to the search just what may be searched. United States v. Hayes, 794 F.2d 1348, 1355 (9th Cir.1986).

The search warrant did explicitly authorize a search of Payton's premises to find and seize, among other things, "[s]ales ledgers showing narcotics transactions such as pay/owe sheets," and "[f]inancial records of the person(s) in control of the premises." The crucial question is whether these provisions authorized the officers to look for such records on Payton's computer. We conclude that, under our recent and controlling precedent of United States v. Giberson, 527 F.3d 882 (9th Cir.2008), as applied to the circumstances of this case, they did not.