Very rarely does a forensic examiner have free reign in deciding what to look for in a digital forensic examination. The scope of an examination is usually dictated by some legal process or authority.

What are some of those legal authorities? Is there a process to obtain the authority to search the media? If you exceed the scope of the legal authorization in a forensic examination, what kind of search is that? What are some of the ramifications of exceeding the scope of legal authority? What are you ultimately violating by exceeding the scope of the legal authority?