UNITED STATES of America, v. Edward Joseph MATISH, III, Defendant Criminal No. 4:16cr16 Signe June 21, 2016 Filed June 23, 2016 Counsel *591 Kaitlin C. Gratton, Eric M. Hurt, United States Attorney's Office, 721 Lakefront Commons, Suite 300, Newport News, VA, for United States. Andrew W. Grindrod, Richard J. Colgan, Office of the Federal Public Defender, *592 150 Boush Street, Suite 403, Norfolk, VA, for Andrew W. Grindrod. Morgan, Henry Coke Jr., United States District Judge OPINION AND ORDER This matter is before the Court on Defendant Edward Matish, III's (“Defendant” or “Matish”) First Motion to Suppress (“First Motion”), Doc. 18, Third Motion to Suppress (“Third Motion”), Doc. 34, and Motion to Compel Discovery, Doc. 37. The Court recently rescheduled the trial in this case from June 14, 2016 to October 25, 2016. The Court issued an Opinion and Order denying Defendant's First and Third Motions to Suppress on June 1, 2016, and the Court sua sponte filed this Opinion and Order under seal. Doc. 75. Subsequent to an inquiry by the Court on June 14, 2016, defense counsel asked the Court to continue to keep the Opinion and Order, Doc. 75, under seal. However, the Government now has filed a Motion to Unseal the original Opinion and Order. Doc. 89. The Government notes that the trial date has been rescheduled and that Defendant's declarant, Dr. Soghoian, has published information regarding this case and named Defendant on the Internet. See id. Defendant does not oppose the Government's Motion. Doc. 87. Accordingly, the Court will make public its June 1, 2016 Opinion and Order, which it hereby modifies and restates. On February 8, 2016, Defendant was named in a four (4) count criminal indictment charging him with access with intent to view child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252A(a)(5) and (b)(2). Doc. 1. The Government filed an eight (8) count superseding indictment on April 6, 2016, charging Defendant with access with intent to view child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252A(a)(5) and (b)(2) (Counts One through Four), and receipt of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252A(a)(2) and (b)(1) (Counts Five through Eight). Doc. 26. Defendant filed his First Motion on March 17, 2016, Doc. 18, and he adopted it after the Government filed the superseding indictment on April 8, 2016, Doc. 30. Defendant filed his Third Motion on May 2, 2016. Doc. 34. Defendant filed the Motion to Compel Discovery on May 6, 2016. Doc. 37. In the Motions to Suppress, Defendant seeks to suppress “all evidence seized from Mr. Matish's home computer by the FBI on or about February 27, 2015 through the use of a network investigative technique, as well as all fruits of that search.” Doc. 18 at 1; Doc. 34 at 1. Defendant challenges the warrant authorizing the search on the grounds that it lacked probable cause, that the FBI included false information and omitted material information in the supporting affidavit intentionally or recklessly, that the warrant lacked specificity, and that the warrant's triggering event never occurred. See Doc. 18; Doc. 33. Defendant also argues that the warrant was void ab initio, making the warrantless search unconstitutional. Doc. 34 at 1. Finally, Defendant “alleges a prejudicial and deliberate violation of Rule 41.” Id. In the Motion to Compel Discovery, Defendant asks the Court to compel the Government to provide him with the network investigative technique's full source or programming code. Doc. 37 at 1. The defense argues that the full code is relevant not only to Defendant's defense at trial but also to his First and Third Motions to Suppress. Id. at 1-2. Other courts across the country have considered various challenges to the particular warrant used in this case. SeeUnited States v. Werdene, No. 2:15-cr-00434, ECF No. 33 (E.D. Pa. May 18, 2016); *593 United States v. Levin, No. 15–10271, 186 F.Supp.3d 26, 2016 WL 2596010 (D.Mass. May 5, 2016); United States v. Arterbury, No. 15-cr-182, ECF No. 47 (N.D. Okla. Apr. 25, 2016) (adopting the report and recommendation of a magistrate judge, ECF No. 42); United States v. Epich, No. 15–cr–163, 2016 WL 953269 (E.D.Wis. Mar. 14, 2016); United States v. Stamper, No. 1:15-cr-109, ECF No. 48 (S.D. Ohio Feb. 19, 2016); United States v. Michaud, No. 3:15–cr–05351, 2016 WL 337263 (W.D.Wash. Jan. 28, 2016). The Western District of Washington also has considered a similar discovery motion requesting the full source code. See Michaud, No. 3:15-cr-05351, ECF No. 205 (W.D. Wash. May 18, 2016). The Court held hearings to address these Motions on May 19, 2016, May 26, 2016, and June 14, 2016. The Court FINDS, for the reasons stated herein, that probable cause supported the warrant's issuance, that the warrant was sufficiently specific, that the triggering event occurred, that Defendant is not entitled to a Franks hearing, and that the magistrate judge did not exceed her jurisdiction or authority in issuing the warrant. Furthermore, the Court FINDS suppression unwarranted because the Government did not need a warrant in this case. Thus, any potential defects in the issuance of the warrant or in the warrant itself could not result in constitutional violations, and even if there were a defect in the warrant or in its issuance, the good faith exception to suppression would apply. Therefore, the Court DENIES Defendant's First and Third Motions to Suppress. The Court additionally FINDS that Defendant is not entitled to the full source code at this stage of the proceeding. Thus, the Court DENIES Defendant's Motion to Compel Discovery, Doc. 37. The Government raised a timeliness issue concerning this Motion in its response; however, the Court GRANTED Defendant's request to file the Motion late at the hearing on May 26, 2016. Additionally, Defendant submitted a Consent Motion for Leave to File an Expert Declaration Relevant to the Motion to Compel Discovery, Doc. 83, which the Court GRANTS. I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND The prosecution of Mr. Matish stems from the Government's investigation of Playpen, a website that contained child pornography. At the hearing on May 19, 2016, the Court heard testimony from FBI Special Agent (“SA”) Daniel Alfin and SA Douglas Macfarlane. The Court also admitted several Defense Exhibits. See Def. Exs. 1A, 1B, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Doc. 58. The Court admitted Ex. 5 under seal. Id. Additionally, the Court received a brief of amicus curiae from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. See Doc. 42. These sources, in addition to the parties' briefs, informed the Court's understanding of the relevant facts, which are recounted below. i. The Tor Network Playpen operated on “the onion router” or “Tor” network. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory created the Tor network in an attempt to protect government communications. The public now can access the Tor network. Many people and organizations use the Tor network for legal and legitimate purposes; however, the Tor network also is replete with illegal activities, particularly the online sexual exploitation of children. A person can download the Tor browser from the Tor website. See Tor Project: Anonymity Online, https://www.torproject.org (last visited May 23, 2016). SA Alfin testified that the Tor network possesses two primary purposes: (1) it allows users to access the Internet in an anonymous fashion and (2) it allows some websites—hidden services—to operate only within the Tor network. Although a website's operator usually can identify visitors to his or *594 her site through the visitors' Internet Protocol (“IP”) addresses, Tor attempts to keep a user's IP address hidden. Additionally, people who log into a hidden service cannot identify or locate the website itself. Furthermore, all communications on hidden services are encrypted. Thus, the Tor network attempts to provide anonymity protections both to operators of a hidden service and to visitors of a hidden service. There are index websites of Tor hidden services that users can search, although these indexes behave differently than a typical search engine like Google. According to SA Alfin, more than 1,000 servers all over the world exist in the Tor network. Because Tor attempts to keep users' IP addresses hidden, the Government cannot rely on traditional identification techniques to identify website visitors who utilize the Tor network. ii. Playpen Both parties agree that Playpen contained child pornography. While SA Alfin described Playpen as being entirely dedicated to child pornography, Doc. 59 at 51-52, the Government conceded in its briefs that some of Playpen's sections and forums did not consist entirely of child pornography. See Doc. 24 at 11 (noting that the “vast majority” of Playpen's sections, forums, and sub-forums were “categorized repositories for sexually explicit images of children, subdivided by gender and the age of the victims”). The Government characterizes Playpen as a hidden service, but Defendant disputes that Playpen always resembled a hidden service, claiming that “due to an error in Playpen's connections with the Tor network, it could be found and viewed on both the Tor network and the regular Internet for at least part of the time that it was operating.” Doc. 18 at 5. The Government notes that the “scale of child sexual exploitation on the site was massive: more than 150,000 total members created and viewed tens of thousands of postings related to child pornography.” Doc. 24 at 4. Additionally, “[i]mages and videos shared through the site were highly categorized according to victim age and gender, as well as the type of sexual activity. The site included forums for discussion of all things related to child sexual exploitation, including tips for grooming victims and avoiding detection.” Id. at 4. The victims displayed on Playpen were both foreign and domestic, and some represent children known to the Government. Upon registering for an account with Playpen, potential users were warned not to enter a real email address or post identifying information in their profiles. In December 2014, a foreign law enforcement agency discovered Playpen and alerted the FBI. After locating Playpen's operator, the FBI executed a search of his home in Florida on February 19, 2015, seizing control of Playpen. The FBI did not immediately shut Playpen down; instead, it assumed control of Playpen, continuing to operate it from a government facility in the Eastern District of Virginia from February 20, 2015 through March 4, 2015. As of February 20, 2015, Playpen had 158,094 members from all over the world, 9,333 message threads, and 95,148 posted messages. Doc. 18 at 6; Doc. 24 at 9. Defendant argues a substantial increase in the usage of Playpen occurred after the Government took it over. While the Government concedes that there was some increase, it disputes the unsupported figures in Defendant's briefs. iii. The NIT Warrant and the Supporting Affidavit On February 20, 2015, an experienced and neutral federal magistrate judge authorized the FBI to deploy a network investigative technique (“NIT”) on Playpen's server to obtain identifying information from activating computers, which the warrant defines as computers “of any user or *595 administrator who logs into [Playpen] by entering a username and password.” Def. Ex. 1A. It is undisputed that the FBI could not identify the locations of any of the activating computers prior to deploying the NIT. The NIT is a set of computer code that in this case instructed an activating computer to send certain information to the FBI. This information included: 1. the activating computer's IP address, and the date and time that the NIT determines what that IP address is; 2. a unique identifier generated by the NIT (e.g., a series of numbers, letters, and/or special characters) to distinguish data from that of other activating computers, that will be sent with and collected by the NIT; 3. the type of operating system running on the computer, including type (e.g., Windows), version (e.g., Windows 7), and architecture (e.g., x 86); 4. information about whether the NIT has already been delivered to the activating computer; 5. the activating computer's Host Name; 6. the activating computer's active operating system username; and 7. the activating computer's media access control (“MAC”) address. Def. Ex. 1A. In order to determine a target's location, the FBI only needed to identify the first piece of information described above. SA Macfarlane acted as the affiant, and he signed the warrant application. SA Macfarlane has nineteen (19) years of federal law enforcement experience. The NIT Warrant application described Playpen's home page logo as depicting “two images [of] partially clothed prepubescent females with their legs spread apart, along with the text underneath stating, ‘No cross-board reposts, .7z preferred, encrypt filenames, include preview, Peace out.’ ” Def. Ex. 1B ¶ 12. This description was inaccurate at the time the magistrate judge signed the warrant, although SA Macfarlane did not know of the inaccuracies at the time he sought the magistrate's authorization. A very short time before the FBI assumed control of Playpen, the logo changed from depicting two partially clothed prepubescent females with their legs spread apart to displaying a single image of a female. SA Alfin described this image as “a single prepubescent female wearing fishnet stockings and posed in a sexually suggestive manner.” Doc. 59 at 33. The text underneath the logo remained unchanged. SA Alfin participated in the search of Playpen's operator's home in Florida, and he testified that during the search he saw the website displayed on the operator's computer. However, though SA Alfin admits to viewing the new logo, he testified that “it went unobserved by me because it was an insignificant change to the Web site.” Doc. 59 at 10. Even though the warrant authorized the FBI to deploy the NIT as soon as a user logged into Playpen, SA Alfin testified that the Government did not deploy the NIT against Mr. Matish in this particular case until after someone with the username of “Broden” logged into Playpen, arrived at the index site, went to the bestiality section—which advertised prepubescent children engaged in sexual activities with animals—and clicked on the post titled “Girl 11YO, with dog.” In other words, the agents took the extra precaution of not deploying the NIT until the user first logged into Playpen and second entered into a section of Playpen which actually displayed child pornography. At this point, testified SA Alfin, the user apparently downloaded child pornography as well as the NIT to his computer. Thus, the FBI deployed the NIT in a much narrower fashion than what the warrant authorized. After determining a user's IP address via the NIT, the FBI can send a subpoena *596 to an Internet Service Provider (“ISP”), which will be able to identify the computers that possessed that IP address on a particular date and time. Based on this information, a different experienced and neutral magistrate judge authorized a residential search warrant for Mr. Matish's home, which the FBI executed on July 29, 2015. Pursuant to this second warrant, the FBI seized several computers, hard drives, cell phones, tablets, and video game systems. iv. Discovery Disputes Defendant first requested discovery pertaining to the NIT code in March 2016. Initially, the Government declined to disclose any part of the NIT code. Therefore, on May 6, 2016, Defendant submitted the Motion to Compel Discovery. Doc. 37. The Government responded in opposition on May 17, 2016. Doc. 56. Defendant replied on May 23, 2016. Doc. 60. On May 25, 2016, the Government requested permission to file a surreply, Doc. 62, which the Court orally granted at a hearing on May 26, 2016. The Government filed the surreply on June 1, 2016. Doc. 74. On June 10, 2016, Defendant submitted a Consent Motion for Leave to File an Expert Declaration Relevant to this Motion. Doc. 83. After Defendant submitted the Motion to Compel Discovery, Doc. 37, after the Government responded, Doc. 56, and after Defendant replied, Doc. 60, the Government made the NIT instructions, as well as the information obtained via the NIT's execution, available for review. See Doc. 74 at 9. Additionally, on June 14, 2016, the Government made available to the defense the two-way network data stream, which details the information sent to and from Defendant's computer and the FBI. Defendant asserted at a hearing on May 26, 2016 that the NIT instructions do not represent the entire NIT source code, and he now asks for the remaining pieces of the code. The Court held a hearing to address this matter on June 14, 2016. At the hearing, the Court heard testimony from SA Alfin. The defense did not offer any additional testimony or evidence at the hearing, instead relying upon the declarations filed with its pleadings. With his briefing, Defendant submitted three declarations from Mr. Vlad Tsyrklevich, a computer security engineer, see Doc. 78, Dr. Matthew Miller, an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Information Technology, see Doc. 60, Ex. C, and Dr. Christopher Soghoian, a “researcher focused on privacy, computer security and government surveillance,” Doc. 83. II. Defendant Is Not Entitled to Discovery of the Full NIT Source Code A. Legal Standards i. Disclosure Under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16(a)(1)(E), “[u]pon a defendant's request, the government must permit the defendant to inspect and to copy or photograph books, papers, documents, data, photographs, tangible objects, buildings or places, or copies of portions of any of these items, if the item is within the government's possession, custody, or control and: (i) the item is material to preparing the defense; (ii) the government intends to use the item in its casein-chief at trial; or (iii) the item was obtained from or belongs to the defendant.” Fed. R. Crim. P. 16(a)(1)(E). This rule differs from that announced in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), “which rests upon due process considerations[ ] and provides the minimum amount of pretrial discovery granted in criminal cases.” E.g., United States v. Caro, 597 F.3d 608, 620 (4th Cir.2010) (citing United States v. Baker, 453 F.3d 419, 424 (7th Cir.2006) (“Rule 16 ... is broader than Brady.”); *597 United States v. Conder, 423 F.2d 904, 911 (6th Cir.1970) (“We are ... of the view that the disclosure required by Rule 16 is much broader than that required by the due process standards of Brady.”)). 1In United States v. Armstrong, the Supreme Court of the United States clarified that, “in the context of Rule 16 ‘the defendant's defense’ means the defendant's response to the Government's case in chief.” 517 U.S. 456, 462, 116 S.Ct. 1480, 134 L.Ed.2d 687 (1996). Thus, in order for “the defendant to show materiality under this rule, there must be some indication that the pretrial disclosure of the disputed evidence would [ ] enable[ ] the defendant significantly to alter the quantum of proof in his favor.” Caro, 597 F.3d at 621 (quoting United States v. Ross, 511 F.2d 757, 763 (5th Cir.1975)) (internal quotations omitted). Hence, “evidence is material as long as there is a strong indication that it will play an important role in uncovering admissible evidence, aiding witness preparation, corroborating testimony, or assisting impeachment or rebuttal.” Caro, 597 F.3d at 621 (quoting United States v. Lloyd, 992 F.2d 348, 351 (D.C.Cir.1993)) (internal quotations omitted). ii. Law Enforcement Privilege 234The Fourth Circuit has not directly addressed the law enforcement privilege. However, other circuits have considered how district courts should evaluate a party's assertion of the law enforcement privilege. Courts agree that the party asserting the law enforcement privilege bears the burden of showing that the privilege applies. See, e.g., In re The City of New York, 607 F.3d 923, 944 (2d Cir.2010) (citing In re Sealed Case, 856 F.2d 268, 271–72 (D.C.Cir.1988)). In order to illustrate that the privilege applies, the party “must show that the documents contain information that the law enforcement privilege is intended to protect,” which “includes information pertaining to law enforcement techniques and procedures, information that would undermine the confidentiality of sources, information that would endanger witness and law enforcement personnel [or] the privacy of individuals involved in an investigation, and information that would otherwise ... interfere[ ] with an investigation.” In re The City of New York, 607 F.3d at 944 (quoting In re Department of Investigation of City of New York, 856 F.2d 481, 484 (2d Cir.1988)) (internal quotations omitted). If “the party asserting the privilege successfully shows that the privilege applies, the district court then must balance the public interest in nondisclosure against ‘the need of a particular litigant for access to the privileged information,’ ” as the privilege is qualified, not absolute. In re The City of New York, 607 F.3d at 948 (quoting In re Sealed Case, 856 F.2d at 272). 5When evaluating claims of privilege in the criminal context, courts should remain cognizant of the fact that “[w]hile the public's interest in effective law enforcement ... support[s] the creation of the privilege, [it does] not extinguish a criminal defendant's strong interest in effective cross-examination of adverse witnesses.” United States v. Green, 670 F.2d 1148, 1155 (D.C.Cir.1981); see also United States v. Van Horn, 789 F.2d 1492, 1507 (11th Cir.1986) (comparing the qualified law enforcement privilege to the informant's privilege and recognizing that the “privilege must give way, however, where the informant's identity or knowledge is ‘relevant and helpful to the defense of an accused, or is essential to a fair determination of a cause.’ ” (quoting Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53, 60–61, 77 S.Ct. 623, 1 L.Ed.2d 639 (1957))). Thus, in criminal cases, district courts should balance the Government's need to keep certain information *598 private with the defendant's need for the information. E.g., Van Horn, 789 F.2d at 1508 (stressing “that the necessity determination requires a case by case balancing process” and that there are no established “fixed rules about the discoverability of electronic surveillance techniques in criminal cases”). Courts have noted that to “assess both the applicability of the privilege and the need for the documents, the district court must ordinarily review the documents in question.” In re The City of New York, 607 F.3d at 948. If filing the documents under seal remains insufficient to protect the privileged information, the court may review them ex parte and in camera. Id. at 948–49. B. Analysis i. Disclosure 6The parties agree that the information requested is within the Government's control, that the Government does not plan to use the actual code during its case in chief, and that the code was not obtained from and does not belong to Defendant. The parties dispute, however, whether the defense has shown materiality under Fed. R. Crim. P. 16(a)(1)(E)(i). Defendant asserts two main arguments to support his claim of materiality. First, Defendant explains that “Mr. Matish expects to challenge the government's chain of custody regarding the supposed linkage between his computer and [Playpen].” Doc. 60 at 4. In order to do so, “the defense intends to challenge the accuracy of the identifying data that the government claims connects Mr. Matish to both ‘Broden’ and specific activity on the Website,” focusing on “the government's recent assertion that some of the information that was used to link ‘Broden’ to Mr. Matish's computer was not in fact gathered from Mr. Matish's computer and securely transferred in encrypted form to the FBI, but rather was sent unencrypted over the traditional [I]nternet.” Id. at 4-5. The defense also expects to “challenge the government's case by arguing to the jury that child pornography found in the unallocated space of Mr. Matish's computer came from somewhere or someone else, or at least that the government cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Matish intentionally downloaded illegal pictures.” Id. at 5. To support this argument, Defendant relies on the supposition that “the security settings on Mr. Matish's computer had been compromised by the government's NIT,” leaving his computer vulnerable to hackers and malware. Id. The Court considers the declarations submitted by Defendant less persuasive than SA Alfin's declaration and testimony, because SA Alfin testified and was subjected to cross-examination. Although Defendant's declarants did not testify and were not subject to cross-examination in this case, the Court is aware that Dr. Soghoian testified for the defense at a hearing in Michaud, 3:15-cr-05351. Defendant's declarations left a number of important questions unanswered. For example, Mr. Tsyrklevich's declaration and Dr. Miller's declaration are parallel, and Dr. Miller's declaration largely adopts Mr. Tsyrklevich's declaration with little substance added. See Doc. 78; Doc. 60, Ex. C. Notably, the purposes for which Defendant asks for access to the missing source code are based upon speculation as to what the declarants might find. The defense lacks any evidence to support the hypotheses and instead relies upon the ipse dixit that the source code is needed because its declarants opine that it is needed. Such speculation remains insufficient to serve as a basis to compel discovery. Cf. Caro, 597 F.3d at 621. For example, the defense aims to discover whether the NIT's deployment compromised *599 Defendant's computer's security. In response to the defense's declarations—and his own admission—that an exploit potentially could make fundamental changes or alterations to a computer system, SA Alfin explained that he executed the NIT in question on a computer under his control. This NIT's deployment, testified SA Alfin, did not affect any security program or device on the computer. On the other hand, none of the three declarants presented by Defendant tested the NIT on Defendant's computer, which is available to them, or on their own computers to determine if it affected their security systems. Defendant also questions the data's chain of custody, due in part to the NIT program's failure to encrypt its return message from Defendant's computer. The defense's declarants hypothesize that the return message became vulnerable to tampering while in transit on the Internet. As defense counsel argued, during such transmission, the information “was susceptible to being tampered with.” Doc. 86 at 37. Indeed, defense counsel agreed that during unencrypted transmission, “anybody can tamper with it.” Id. at 38. In his testimony, SA Alfin stated that it only took one (1) second for the NIT data stream to transfer the information to the FBI. Thus, anyone seeking to tamper with the data stream during that timeframe must have known in depth the FBI's activity so as to complete their “hacking operation” within one second. Rather than encrypting and decrypting the information sent to the FBI, the Government produced the data in literal form. Again, the defense has not searched Defendant's computer to decipher whether there is any evidence of tampering with this message. Defendant's declarants likewise have not produced any evidential basis supporting an interruption in the chain of custody. Defendant expresses doubt concerning the credibility of the Government's evidence, specifically SA Alfin's declaration and testimony. However, SA Alfin twice was subjected to cross-examination by Defendant's attorney, whereas the declarations presented by the defense were immune from cross-examination, and, the Court FINDS, left many questions unanswered. Another example is that an examination of Defendant's computer may have uncovered evidence either of hacking or an alternate source of the child pornography, but, as it stands, the declarants' inaction leaves their hypotheses with no evidence to support them. At least two of Defendant's declarants are familiar with a similar case in Washington State, see Michaud, 3:15-cr-05351, and have been involved with these issues for many months. See Doc. 78; Doc. 60, Ex. C. Therefore, they have had ample opportunity to examine Defendant's computer or other computers as did SA Alfin. Defense counsel makes much of SA Alfin's testimony that he did not know, nor had he examined, the exploit code. SA Alfin explained that the exploit represents “a defect in a lock that would allow someone with the proper tool to unlock it without possessing the key.” See Doc. 74, Ex. 1 ¶ 11. Thus, through the exploit, the FBI could deploy the NIT onto Defendant's computer. Yet, the Government now has furnished the NIT's operating instructions, which the defense's declarants could apply to Defendant's computer or to other computers ultimately to determine how—if at all—the NIT affected Defendant's computer. The Court FINDS ex parte and in camera inspection of the exploit unnecessary. Such examination would not have assisted the Court in dealing with the issues before it. The technicalities of such an examination are better left to computer experts. *600 The Court places its reliance on the declaration and testimony of SA Alfin. SA Alfin explained that the exploit code did not produce any additional information but merely opened the lock to Playpen. Indeed, SA Alfin did not believe it was necessary to examine the exploit code since it would not furnish him with any additional information. Defendant's declarants did not furnish any evidence to dispute SA Alfin's testimony that there was nothing to be gained by examining the exploit code, nor have the declarants offered a specific reason for any such exam. The Government declined to furnish the source code of the exploit due to its immateriality and for reasons of security. The Government argues that reviewing the exploit, which takes advantage of a weakness in the Tor network, would expose the entire NIT program and render it useless as a tool to track the transmission of contraband via the Internet. SA Alfin testified that he had no need to learn or study the exploit, as the exploit does not produce any information but rather unlocks the door to the information secured via the NIT. The defense claims it needs the exploit to determine whether the FBI closed and re-locked the door after obtaining Defendant's information via the NIT. Yet, the defense lacks evidentiary support for such a need. The lack of any evidence to support the hypotheses of Defendant's declarants, coupled with their failure to examine Defendant's computer and the fact that the Government knew of the “Broden” account prior to the NIT's deployment,[1] further coupled with the miniscule timeframe in which the unencrypted reply was subject to tampering, all suggest that the defense has failed to advance the speculative hypotheses of its declarants to the realm of significantly altering the quantum of proof or of strongly indicating that the exploit “will play an important role in uncovering admissible evidence, aiding witness preparation, corroborating testimony, or assisting impeachment or rebuttal.” Caro, 597 F.3d at 621 (quoting Lloyd, 992 F.2d at 351) (internal quotations omitted). Accordingly, the Court FINDS that the defense has failed to meet the test under Caro, 597 F.3d at 621, for requiring the Government to produce the exploit source code. ii. Qualified Law Enforcement Privilege 7The Government asserts that the law enforcement privilege applies to the full source code, excluding the already-provided NIT instructions and the corresponding data stream. See Doc. 56 at 22; Doc. 74 at 13. Although the Court technically does not reach the issue of Government privilege, assuming arguendo that it did, the Court believes that the scales tip substantially in favor of the Government. In considering this issue, the Court examined—in addition to the parties' briefs—a classified brief submitted by the Government. The Government alleges that disclosure of the code “would be harmful to the public interest” because it “could diminish the future value of important investigative techniques, allow individuals to devise measures to counteract these techniques in order to evade detection, [and] discourage cooperation from third parties and other governmental agencies who rely on these techniques in critical situations.” Doc. 56 at 22. Courts have held similar law enforcement techniques subject to the qualified privilege. See In re The City of New York, 607 F.3d at 944 (finding that the privilege clearly applies to Field Reports that “contain detailed information about the undercover *601 operations of the NYPD”); see also Van Horn, 789 F.2d at 1508 (finding a qualified privilege in the nature and location of electronic surveillance equipment); Green, 670 F.2d at 1150 (finding that “the Government has a qualified privilege during a suppression hearing not to disclose its surveillance locations”). Like police Field Reports, In re The City of New York, 607 F.3d at 944, police surveillance locations, Green, 670 F.2d at 1150, and electronic surveillance equipment locations, Van Horn, 789 F.2d at 1508, the full NIT source code includes information pertaining to law enforcement techniques, procedures, and information that could endanger the public if released. Thus, the Government has shown that the privilege applies. 89However, the recognition of the privilege cannot end the Court's consideration. E.g., Green, 670 F.2d at 1155. Indeed, after finding that the privilege applies to the exploit, the Court must balance the Government's right to keep the information private with Defendant's right to inspect the information. E.g., id. This particular issue concerns the public interest in nondisclosure and Defendant's rights to put on a defense and to confront witnesses against him under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. At its core, this case embodies the fundamental collision between the duty of our Government to protect its citizens from the dangers caused by child pornography with the implied right of privacy under the Fourth Amendment. Notably, the Government already has found that protecting its citizens outweighs the First Amendment's right of freedom of speech, for it applies prior restraint to child pornography. E.g., Osborne v. Ohio, 495 U.S. 103, 110 S.Ct. 1691, 109 L.Ed.2d 98 (1990); see also New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747, 102 S.Ct. 3348, 73 L.Ed.2d 1113 (1982). The Government further has recognized the dangers caused by child pornography in enacting severe punishment, including mandatory minimum sentences, for the possession of child pornography. See 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(b)(1). Defendant already has received the NIT instructions and the two-way data stream, and the Government's disclosure of this information, coupled with its assurance to the Court that none of the images recovered from Defendant's computer serve as a basis for any charge filed in this case, see Doc. 86 at 56, further lessens the defense's need for the additional information it seeks. Hence, even if the Court were to find the exploit code material under Rule 16(a)(1)(E), the Court FINDS that the Government's need to protect the code outweighs Defendant's need for it. Therefore, the Court FINDS that Defendant has failed to show that the full NIT code—specifically, the exploit—is material under Rule 16(a)(1)(E). Thus, the Court DENIES Defendant's Motion to Compel Discovery, Doc. 37. Additionally, even if the Court were to find that Defendant made a sufficient showing of materiality, the Court would not require the Government to disclose the full source code due to the law enforcement privilege. iii. Malware The parties debate whether the NIT constitutes malware. See Doc. 74 at 12; Doc. 83. Black's Law Dictionary defines malicious technology, or malware, as “any electronic or mechanical means, esp. software, used to monitor or gain access to another's computer system without authorization for the purpose of impairing or disabling the system.” Malicious Technology, Black's Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014), available at Westlaw BLACKS. Whether the NIT constitutes malware is immaterial to this Court's decisions concerning the Motions to Suppress and the Motion to Compel Discovery. The Court notes, however, that perhaps malware is a better description for the program through*602 which the provider of the pornography attempted to conceal its distribution of contraband over the Internet than for the efforts of the Government to uncover the pornography. Due to the negative connotations associated with the word “malware,” the defense's declarations and tweets criticizing the NIT and their insistence on describing it as malware suggest that they simply do not believe that the Government should be permitted to possess this tool. See Doc. 83; Doc. 89, Exs. 2, 3, 4, 6, 7. Yet, “[l]aw enforcement tactics must be allowed to advance with technological changes, in order to prevent criminals from circumventing the justice system.” United States v. Skinner, 690 F.3d 772, 778 (6th Cir.2012). III. Probable Cause Supported the Issuance of the NIT Warrant A. Legal Standards 1011The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” U.S. Const. amend. IV. As the Supreme Court of the United States noted in Illinois v. Gates, “probable cause is a fluid concept—turning on the assessment of probabilities in particular factual contexts—not readily, or even usefully, reduced to a neat set of legal rules.” 462 U.S. 213, 232, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). Therefore, a magistrate considering whether probable cause supports the issuance of a search warrant simply must “make a practical, common-sense decision whether, given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit before him, including the ‘veracity’ and ‘basis of knowledge’ of persons supplying hearsay information, there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.” Id. at 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317. In order for a magistrate to conclude that probable cause exists, a warrant application's supporting affidavit must be more than conclusory and bare bones; indeed, the affidavit “must provide the magistrate with a substantial basis for determining the existence of probable cause.” Id. at 239, 103 S.Ct. 2317. Probable cause is not subject to a precise definition, and it is a relaxed standard. See United States v. Allen, 631 F.3d 164, 172 (4th Cir.2011); see also United States v. Martin, 426 F.3d 68, 76 (2d Cir.2005). When examining an affidavit, a magistrate may rely on law enforcement officers, who may “draw on their own experience and specialized training to make inferences from and deductions about the cumulative information available to them that might well elude an untrained person,” as long as the affidavit contains facts to support the law enforcement officer's conclusions. United States v. Johnson, 599 F.3d 339, 343 (4th Cir.2010) (quoting United States v. Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266, 273, 122 S.Ct. 744, 151 L.Ed.2d 740 (2002)) (internal quotations omitted); see also United States v. Brown, 958 F.2d 369, at *5 (4th Cir.1992) (noting that “magistrates, in making probable cause determinations, may rely upon an experienced police officer's conclusions as to the likelihood that evidence exists and where it is located”). 12A court reviewing whether a magistrate correctly determined that probable cause exists should afford the magistrate's determination of probable cause great deference. See Gates, 462 U.S. at 236, 103 S.Ct. 2317. Therefore, “the duty of a reviewing court is simply to ensure that the magistrate had a ‘substantial basis for ... conclud[ing] that’ probable cause existed.” Id. at 238–39, 103 S.Ct. 2317 (quoting *603 Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 271, 80 S.Ct. 725, 4 L.Ed.2d 697 (1960)); see also United States v. Blackwood, 913 F.2d 139, 142 (4th Cir.1990). A reviewing court should “resist the temptation to ‘invalidate warrant[s] by interpreting affidavit[s] in a hypertechnical, rather than a commonsense, manner.’ ” Blackwood, 913 F.2d at 142 (quoting Gates, 462 U.S. at 236, 103 S.Ct. 2317). B. Analysis 13Defendant first challenges the NIT Warrant on its face, arguing that it is not based on probable cause, even if the Court were to ignore the warrant application's inaccuracies. See Doc. 18 at 11-12; Doc. 33 at 3. The Government, in contrast, argues that the facts contained in the 31-page affidavit written by a 19-year FBI veteran with specialized training and experience in this field, “along with the reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, support probable cause to believe that registered users of Playpen intended to view and trade child pornography.” Doc. 24 at 17. The Court FINDS that the magistrate possessed a substantial basis for determining that probable cause existed to support the issuance of the NIT Warrant. Taking the affidavit at face value, it outlines numerous affirmative steps that one must take to find Playpen on the Tor network, it fully describes Playpen's home page and registration terms, and it details Playpen's content. See Def. Ex. 1B. Examining the totality of these circumstances leads to the conclusion that a fair probability existed that those accessing Playpen intended to view and trade child pornography and that the NIT would help uncover evidence of these crimes. The affidavit describes the Tor network and its emphasis on anonymity. See Def. Ex. 1B at 10-11. It states that “the TARGET WEBSITE is a Tor hidden service.” Id. ¶ 10. It explains that a user cannot access a hidden service unless he or she knows the particular website address. Id. The affidavit, therefore, describes numerous affirmative steps that one must take even to find Playpen on the Tor network. The Court credits SA Alfin's testimony that it would be extremely unlikely for someone to stumble innocently upon Playpen. The magistrate thus justifiably concluded that the chances of someone innocently discovering, registering for, and entering Playpen were slim. Additionally, the affidavit illustrates Playpen's home page, detailing the picture of the two prepubescent females as well as the text. Id. ¶ 12. The affiant explained that based on his training and experience, he knew that “ ‘no cross-board reposts' refers to a prohibition against material that is posted on other websites from being ‘re-posted’ to the TARGET WEBSITE; and ‘.7z’ refers to a preferred method of compressing large files or sets of files for distribution.” Id. ¶ 12. The affidavit also explained that users viewed a warning message upon accessing the “register an account” hyperlink, informing them not to enter a real email address or to post identifying information. Id. ¶ 13. It also warned that the website “is not able to see your IP ...” Id. ¶ 13. In addition, the affidavit described Playpen's contents. It noted that “the entirety of the TARGET WEBSITE is dedicated to child pornography.”[2] Id. ¶ 27. While Defendant disputes this characterization, it was not unreasonable for the affiant to *604 conclude, or for the magistrate to accept, that the site indeed was dedicated to child pornography. The affidavit also detailed sections, forums, and sub-forums visible upon logging into the site, most of which referenced children. SA Alfin testified that even the topics listed on the home page that could refer to adult pornography actually referenced child pornography in the context of Playpen. The affiant also noted that he believed users employed Playpen's private message system to disseminate child pornography. Id. ¶ 22. Finally, the affidavit described sub-forums that contained “the most egregious examples of child pornography and/or [were] dedicated to retellings of real world hands on sexual abuse of children.” Id. ¶ 27. Therefore, it was not unreasonable for the magistrate judge to find that Playpen's focus on anonymity, coupled with Playpen's suggestive name, the logo of two prepubescent females partially clothed with their legs spread apart (or, as discussed below, the one scantily clad minor), and the affidavit's description of Playpen's content, endowed the NIT Warrant with probable cause. In fact, other courts have found that probable cause supported this exact NIT Warrant. In Epich, for example, the Eastern District of Wisconsin adopted a magistrate judge's report and recommendation, which “pointed to the complicated machinations through which users had to go to access the web site (meaning that unintentional users were unlikely to stumble onto it); the fact that the web site's landing page contained images of partially clothe[d] prepubescent females with their legs spread apart; the existence of statements on the landing page that made it clear that users were not to re-post materials from other web sites, and provided information for compressing large files (such as video files) for distribution; the fact that the site required people to register to use it, and advised registrants to use fake e-mail addresses and emphasized that the site was anonymous; and the fact that once a user went through all of those steps to become a registered user, the user had access to the entire site, which contained images and/or videos that depicted child pornography.” 2016 WL 953269, at *1–2. The court thus concluded that “anyone who ended up a registered user on the web site was aware that the site contained, among other things, pornographic images of children.” Id. at *1. The magistrate judge in Epich additionally found that “the fact that one could become a registered user to the web site, and then view only information that did not contain illegal material, did not affect the probable cause determination that the Virginia magistrate judge made in issuing the warrant.” Id. at *1–2. Similarly, in Michaud, the Western District of Washington stated that “it would be highly unlikely that [Playpen] would be stumbled upon accidentally, given the nature of the Tor network.” 2016 WL 337263, at *5. Thus, taking the NIT Warrant on its face, the Court CONCLUDES that the magistrate judge possessed ample probable cause to issue the NIT Warrant. IV. A Franks Hearing Is Not Warranted A. Legal Standards In Franks v. Delaware, the Supreme Court held that if a “defendant makes a substantial preliminary showing that a false statement knowingly and intentionally, or with reckless disregard for the truth, was included by the affiant in the warrant affidavit, and if the allegedly false statement is necessary to the finding of probable cause, the Fourth Amendment requires that a hearing be held at the defendant's request.” 438 U.S. 154, 155–56, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978). If, at the hearing, “the allegation of perjury or reckless disregard is established by the defendant by a preponderance of the evidence, *605 and, with the affidavit's false material set to one side, the affidavit's remaining content is insufficient to establish probable cause, the search warrant must be voided and the fruits of the search excluded to the same extent as if probable cause was lacking on the face of the affidavit.” Id. at 156, 98 S.Ct. 2674. However, no hearing is required if after “material that is the subject of the alleged falsity or reckless disregard is set to one side, there remains sufficient content in the warrant affidavit to support a finding of probable cause.” Id. at 172, 98 S.Ct. 2674. 141516Because affidavits supporting search warrants are presumed valid, in order to “mandate an evidentiary hearing, the challenger's attack must be more than conclusory and must be supported by more than a mere desire to cross-examine.” Id. at 171–72, 98 S.Ct. 2674. Therefore, “[t]here must be allegations of deliberate falsehood or of reckless disregard for the truth, and those allegations must be accompanied by an offer of proof.” Id. at 171, 98 S.Ct. 2674. The defendant can challenge an affidavit on the ground that the affiant intentionally or recklessly included false statements or on the ground that the affiant omitted material facts with the intent to make, or in reckless disregard of whether the omission made, the affidavit misleading. E.g., United States v. Colkley, 899 F.2d 297, 300 (4th Cir.1990); see also United States v. Chandia, 514 F.3d 365, 373 (4th Cir.2008). It is insufficient for the defendant to allege mere negligence on the part of the affiant. Colkley, 899 F.2d at 300. To make the necessary substantial preliminary showing, the defendant seeking a Franks hearing should furnish to the Court affidavits or sworn or otherwise reliable statements or satisfactorily explain their absence. Id. A defendant can make a substantial preliminary showing that a false statement was included in the affidavit with reckless disregard for its truth by showing “that an officer acted with a high degree of awareness of [a statement's] probable falsity, that is, when viewing all the evidence the affiant must have entertained serious doubts as to the truth of his statements or had obvious reasons to doubt the accuracy of the information he reported.” Miller v. Prince George's County, MD, 475 F.3d 621, 627 (4th Cir.2007) (quoting Wilson v. Russo, 212 F.3d 781, 788 (3d Cir.2000)) (internal quotations omitted). 1718In order to be material, the falsity or the omission in the affidavit “must do more than potentially affect the probable cause determination: it must be ‘necessary to the finding of probable cause.’ ” Colkley, 899 F.2d at 301 (citing Franks, 438 U.S. at 156, 98 S.Ct. 2674). In Colkley, the Fourth Circuit noted that “the district court need not have held a Franks hearing ... because inclusion of the omitted information would not have defeated probable cause.” Id. at 299–300. The Fourth Circuit stressed that the district court misstated the type of materiality Franks required when it held that “the affiant's omission ‘may have affected the outcome’ of the probable cause determination.” Id. at 301. To determine whether the inaccuracies were necessary to find probable cause, a district court must “excise the offending inaccuracies and insert the facts recklessly omitted, and then determine whether or not the ‘corrected’ warrant affidavit would establish probable cause.” Miller, 475 F.3d at 628; see also Martin, 426 F.3d at 75. To make this determination, courts apply the commonsense, totality-of-the-circumstances analysis articulated in Gates. See Colkley, 899 F.2d at 301–02. B. Analysis 19Defendant alleges that the NIT affidavit contains, at a minimum, recklessly misleading statements and omissions that are material to the probable cause determination, *606 and that, therefore, a Franks hearing is warranted. Doc. 18 at 19. Defendant specifically focuses on “the application's false description of Playpen's home page, compounded by highly inaccurate statements about how the Tor network functions and a cloud of misleading technical jargon.” Id. at 23. Defendant further argues that the home page's false description was highly material to the magistrate's finding of probable cause. Id. at 20. He claims that the affidavit—if it did so at all—persuaded the magistrate judge that the site's dedication to child pornography would be apparent to anyone viewing the home page “by including a patently inaccurate description of the homepage.” Id. Importantly, Defendant asserts that the inaccurate home page description was clearly relevant to a finding of probable cause, as evidenced by the allegedly dramatic increase in visitors to Playpen after the home page changed. See Doc. 33 at 12-13. Defendant alleges that the increase in visitors “strongly suggests that many new visitors viewed the revised Playpen homepage as a typical adult site (and had no trouble finding it by Tor search engine or otherwise)” and that “it seems quite plausible that the different content of the Playpen homepage—the misrepresentation at issue here—significantly affected a potential user's expectations as to the site's contents.” Id. The Government admits that there was an increase in usage, but it challenges Defendant's numbers. The Court FINDS that Defendant has not made a substantial showing to justify a Franks hearing. Although SA Alfin admitted that he saw Playpen as it appeared with the new logo on February 19, 2015, there is no evidence before the Court that SA Alfin ever informed SA Macfarlane of the change in the few hours between the conclusion of the residential search in Florida and SA Macfarlane's seeking the magistrate's authorization to use the NIT. The Court also finds that it was not reckless for the affiant not to examine the website one more time on the day he sought the warrant's authorization, as he had recently examined the website and confirmed that nothing had changed. Therefore, the Court FINDS that SA Macfarlane did not act intentionally or with any doubt as to the validity of his affidavit when he brought the warrant to the magistrate judge. Additionally, the Court FINDS that the logo change was not material to the probable cause determination. Although the Court questions what caused the increase in visitors after February 20, 2015, even if the warrant had included the description of the new logo instead of the description of the old logo, probable cause still would have existed. Indeed, SA Alfin described the new logo as depicting “a single prepubescent female wearing fishnet stockings and posed in a sexually suggestive manner.” Doc. 59 at 33. Had SA Alfin or Macfarlane described the new image differently, then perhaps the logo change would have been material. However, the Court posits that replacing “two images depicting partially clothed prepubescent females with their legs spread apart,” Def. Ex. 1B ¶ 12, with an image of “a single prepubescent female wearing fishnet stockings and posed in a sexually suggestive manner,” Doc. 59 at 33, is not significant. Additionally, the logo change lacks significance because the probable cause rested not solely on the site's logo but also on the affiant's description that the entire site was dedicated to child pornography, Playpen's suggestive name, the affirmative steps a user must take to locate Playpen, the site's repeated warnings and focus on anonymity, and the actual contents of the site. The Western District of Washington, in considering similar challenges to the same NIT Warrant, orally denied the defendant's *607 request for a Franks hearing at a motions hearing. Michaud, 2016 WL 337263, at *1. In a subsequent opinion denying the defendant's motion to suppress, the court noted that although SA Alfin saw the newer version of Playpen's home page, he did not notice the picture changes. Id. at *3. The court stated that the balance of Playpen's “focus on child pornography apparently remained unchanged, in SA Alfin's opinion.” Id. Additionally, the court found that the “new picture also appears suggestive of child pornography, especially when considering its placement next to the site's suggestive name, Play Pen.” Id. Therefore, Defendant has not made a substantial preliminary showing that the affiant included the inaccurate description of Playpen's home page either intentionally or recklessly. Furthermore, even if Defendant had made such a showing, a Franks hearing is not warranted because the logo change was immaterial to the probable cause determination. Thus, the Court DENIES Defendant's request for a Franks hearing. V. The NIT Warrant Did Not Lack Specificity A. Legal Standards 2021The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires that search warrants particularly describe the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized. U.S. Const. amend. IV. This requirement of particularity “applies to the warrant, as opposed to the application or the supporting affidavit submitted by the applicant.” E.g., United States v. Hurwitz, 459 F.3d 463, 470 (4th Cir.2006). By requiring warrants to state the scope of the proposed search with particularity, the Fourth Amendment “ensures that the search will be carefully tailored to its justifications, and will not take on the character of the wide-ranging exploratory searches the Framers intended to prohibit.” United States v. Talley, 449 Fed.Appx. 301, 302 (4th Cir.2011). Additionally, the “Fourth Amendment requires that a warrant be no broader than the probable cause on which it is based.” Hurwitz, 459 F.3d at 473 (quoting United States v. Zimmerman, 277 F.3d 426, 432 (3d Cir.2002)) (internal quotations omitted). B. Analysis 22Defendant argues that the NIT Warrant is overbroad. Doc. 18 at 23. Defendant bases this argument on the fact that the NIT Warrant authorized the FBI to search any of the tens of thousands of computers that accessed Playpen, regardless of the user's activities on Playpen. Id. at 23-26. Indeed, the warrant “authorized the FBI to execute searches on a population of potential targets so large that it exceeds the population of Charlottesville, Virginia, and many other small cities.” Id. at 26. Defendant claims that the NIT Warrant did not establish probable cause to search a particular location, because it “purportedly gave the FBI broad discretion in deciding when and against whom to deploy its malware technology.” Id. at 23. Thus, Defendant likens the NIT Warrant to a general warrant. Id. at 24. Defendant analogizes to a case from the Eastern District of Arkansas, in which the court held that: [W]hen, as in this case, a warrant's scope is so broad as to encompass “any and all vehicles” at a scene, without naming any vehicle in particular, the probable cause on which it stands must be equally broad. Specifically, the Fourth Amendment requires that the probable cause showing in support of an “any and all vehicles” warrant must demonstrate that, at the time of the search, a vehicle's mere presence at the target location is sufficient to suggest that it contains contraband or evidence of a crime. *608 United States v. Swift, 720 F.Supp.2d 1048, 1055–56 (E.D.Ark.2010). According to Defendant, “[h]ere—like the mere presence of a car at the scene of a crime—the Government sought to search users' computers based on mere entry to the Playpen site, even though it was not clear from the homepage that someone merely entering the Playpen site—perhaps for the first time—intended to access child pornography.” Doc. 18 at 25. The Government contends that the “NIT warrant described the places to be searched—activating computers of users or administrators that logged into Playpen—and the things to be seized—the seven pieces of information obtained from those activating computers—with particularity.” Doc. 24 at 29. The Government asks the Court to “decline the defendant's invitation to read into the Fourth Amendment a heretofore undiscovered upper bound on the number of searches permitted by a showing of probable cause.” Id. In the Government's view, the fact that “a warrant authorizes the search of a potentially large number of suspects is an indication, not of constitutional infirmity, but a large number of criminal suspects.” Id. at 35. As noted in Levin, “NITs, while raising serious concerns, are legitimate law enforcement tools.” 186 F.Supp.3d at 36, 2016 WL 2596010, at *8. Without deciding the particularity issue presented by the NIT Warrant, the District of Massachusetts noted that of “special concern here is the particularity requirement, since, as the government points out, ‘the defendant's use of the Tor hidden service made it impossible for investigators to know what other districts, if any, the execution of the warrant would take place in.’ ” Id. at 44, 2016 WL 2596010 at *15. The court noted, however, that despite this difficulty, “at least two other courts have determined that this precise warrant was sufficiently particular to pass constitutional muster.” Id. (emphasis in original) (citing Epich, 2016 WL 953269, at *2; Michaud, 2016 WL 337263, at *4–5). First, in Michaud, the Western District of Washington considered this very issue. 2016 WL 337263, at *5. In Michaud, the defendant argued that the NIT Warrant amounted to a general warrant and lacked sufficient specificity; however, the court found that “both the particularity and breadth of the NIT Warrant support the conclusion that the NIT Warrant did not lack specificity and was not a general warrant.” Id. Indeed, the court noted that the NIT Warrant “states with particularity exactly what is to be searched, namely, computers accessing” Playpen. Id. Additionally, the fact that the warrant authorized the FBI to search tens of thousands of potential targets “does not negate particularity, because it would be highly unlikely that [Playpen] would be stumbled upon accidentally, given the nature of the Tor network.” Id. The court further held that the NIT Warrant did not exceed the probable cause on which it was issued. Id. Similarly, in Epich, the Eastern District of Wisconsin, adopting a magistrate judge's report and recommendation, rejected the defendant's particularity challenge to the NIT Warrant. 2016 WL 953269, at *2 (noting that the warrant “explained who was subject to the search, what information the NIT would obtain, the time period during which the NIT would be used, and how it would be used, as well as bearing attachments describing the place to be searched and the information to be seized”). The Court FINDS that the NIT Warrant did not violate the Fourth Amendment's particularity requirement. The Court also FINDS that the warrant was not broader than the probable cause upon which it was based. As discussed above—putting aside the admitted inaccuracies *609 and the Franks issue—there existed a fair probability that anyone accessing Playpen possessed the intent to view and trade child pornography. Therefore, the fact that the FBI could have and did narrow its search in this case is immaterial, since the warrant was based on probable cause to search any computer logging into the site. While Defendant claims Playpen includes sections and forums which do not actually contain child pornography, the only examples in the record concern ways to approach a child who will be the subject of the pornography and relations between adults and children, thus SA Alfin's description of the site as “entirely dedicated to child porn.” Additionally, the warrant explicitly outlined the place to be searched—the computers of any user or administrator who logs into Playpen. Def. Ex. 1A. The warrant also detailed the seven items to be seized. Id. Therefore, the NIT Warrant met the Fourth Amendment's particularity requirements. VI. The Triggering Event Occurred A. Legal Standards 2324Anticipatory warrants are “based upon an affidavit showing probable cause that at some future time (but not presently) certain evidence of a crime will be located at a specified place.” United States v. Grubbs, 547 U.S. 90, 94, 126 S.Ct. 1494, 164 L.Ed.2d 195 (2006). Generally, these warrants “subject their execution to some condition precedent other than the mere passage of time—a so-called ‘triggering condition.” ’ Id. If a warrant is subject to a triggering condition and “the government were to execute an anticipatory warrant before the triggering condition occurred, there would be no reason to believe the item described in the warrant could be found at the searched location; by definition, the triggering condition which establishes probable cause has not yet been satisfied when the warrant is issued.” Id. Thus, it “must be true not only that if the triggering condition occurs ‘there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place,’ but also that there is probable cause to believe the triggering condition will occur” Id. at 96–97, 126 S.Ct. 1494 (citing Gates, 462 U.S. at 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317). However, “the Fourth Amendment does not require that the triggering condition for an anticipatory search warrant be set forth in the warrant itself.” Id. at 99, 126 S.Ct. 1494. B. Analysis 25Defendant contends that the NIT Warrant represents an anticipatory warrant “because it prospectively authorized searches whenever unidentified Playpen visitors signed on to the site, with the ‘triggering event’ for those searches being the act of accessing the site.” Doc. 18 at 26. Defendant argues that merely logging into Playpen did not constitute the triggering event; rather “navigating through the internet homepage described in the warrant application” represented the triggering condition. Doc. 33 at 2. Since the warrant application incorrectly described Playpen's home page logo, Defendant could not log into Playpen via the home page described in the warrant application because that home page no longer existed. Id. at 3. Thus, Defendant argues, “the search conducted here was not authorized by the NIT Warrant.” Id. The Government notes that Defendant's “claim that the NIT warrant was void because, as an anticipatory warrant, the ‘triggering event’ never occurred is little more than a rehash of the same probable cause and Franks challenges that have already been addressed.” Doc. 24 at 35-36. The Government contends that the relevant triggering event was “the defendant's decision to enter his username and password into Playpen and enter the site.” Id. The *610 Government emphasizes that Defendant is not claiming that he never logged into Playpen. Id. at 36. Therefore, the Government contends that the triggering event did, in fact, occur. Id. Defendant's argument that the triggering event never occurred is novel, but the Court FINDS that logging into Playpen—which the warrant application identified by its URL—represents the relevant triggering event. See Def. Ex. 1A. Thus, the triggering event was not conditional upon the website's home page logo but upon whether a user or administrator of Playpen logged into the site, which the warrant identified by its URL. The FBI deployed the NIT here after someone with the username “Broden” logged into Playpen. Thus, the Court FINDS that the triggering event did occur. The Court notes that if it were to rule that logging into Playpen through the home page—exactly as it was described in the application—represented the triggering event, as opposed to ruling that simply logging into the website represented the triggering event, such a ruling would provide operators of websites such as Playpen with incentive to frequently change their home pages' appearances. While this consideration would not be an issue if the FBI had assumed control over the website prior to obtaining the search warrant—as it had in this case—if the FBI obtained a warrant to search computers logging into a site that the FBI had not yet taken over, the website operator's ability to change his or her website's home page at will would always defeat probable cause for this type of anticipatory warrant. Again it should be noted that the Government did not employ the NIT until Defendant took the additional step of clicking on an actual child pornography forum or section within Playpen. VII. Rule 41(b)(4) Authorized the Issuance of the NIT Warrant A. Legal Standards Both Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(b) (“Rule 41(b)”) and Section 636 of the Federal Magistrates Act (“Section 636”) concern the scope of a magistrate judge's authority. Rule 41(b) details a magistrate judge's authority to issue a search warrant. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 41(b). It provides that: (1) a magistrate judge with authority in the district—or if none is reasonably available, a judge of a state court of record in the district—has authority to issue a warrant to search for and seize a person or property located within the district; (2) a magistrate judge with authority in the district has authority to issue a warrant for a person or property outside the district if the person or property is located within the district when the warrant is issued but might move or be moved outside the district before the warrant is executed; (3) a magistrate judge—in an investigation of domestic terrorism or international terrorism—with authority in any district in which activities related to the terrorism may have occurred has authority to issue a warrant for a person or property within or outside that district; (4) a magistrate judge with authority in the district has authority to issue a warrant to install within the district a tracking device; the warrant may authorize use of the device to track the movement of a person or property located within the district, outside the district, or both; and (5) a magistrate judge having authority in any district where activities related to the crime may have occurred, or in the *611 District of Columbia, may issue a warrant for property that is located outside the jurisdiction of any state or district, but within any of the following: (A) a United States territory, possession, or commonwealth; (B) the premises—no matter who owns them—of a United States diplomatic or consular mission in a foreign state, including any appurtenant building, part of a building, or land used for the mission's purposes; or (C) a residence and any appurtenant land owned or leased by the United States and used by United States personnel assigned to a United States diplomatic or consular mission in a foreign state. Fed. R. Crim. P. 41(b). Section 636(a) of the Federal Magistrates Act addresses a magistrate judge's jurisdiction and provides, in relevant part: (a) Each United States magistrate judge serving under this chapter shall have within the district in which sessions are held by the court that appointed the magistrate judge, at other places where that court may function, and elsewhere as authorized by law— (1) all powers and duties conferred or imposed upon United States commissioners by law or by the Rules of Criminal Procedure for the United States District Courts ... 28 U.S.C. § 636. As the District of Massachusetts noted in Levin, “the Court's analyses of whether the NIT Warrant was statutorily permissible and whether it was allowed under Rule 41(b) are necessarily intertwined.” 186 F.Supp.3d at 31, 2016 WL 2596010, at *3. Indeed, “[f]or the magistrate judge to have had jurisdiction to issue the warrant under Section 636(a), she must have had authority to do so under Rule 41 (b).” Id. at 36 n. 11, 2016 WL 2596010, at *8 n. 11. B. Analysis i. Defendant Has Standing to Challenge the Magistrate Judge's Authority and Jurisdiction 26In Rakas v. Illinois, the Supreme Court of the United States stressed that “ ‘Fourth Amendment rights are personal rights which, like some other constitutional rights, may not be vicariously asserted.’ ” 439 U.S. 128, 133–34, 99 S.Ct. 421, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978) (quoting Brown v. United States, 411 U.S. 223, 230, 93 S.Ct. 1565, 36 L.Ed.2d 208 (1973)). Therefore, a “person who is aggrieved by an illegal search and seizure only through the introduction of damaging evidence secured by a search of a third person's premises or property has not had any of his Fourth Amendment rights infringed” and thus cannot vicariously assert the third party's Fourth Amendment rights. Id. at 134, 99 S.Ct. 421. In Rakas, the Supreme Court held that passengers of a car who “asserted neither a property nor a possessory interest in the automobile, nor an interest in the property seized” could not vicariously assert the owner and driver's potential claims that the search of the car violated the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 130, 148, 99 S.Ct. 421. 27The Government argues that Defendant does not have standing to assert these challenges to the NIT Warrant, characterizing his Third Motion as one “regarding how the issuance of the NIT warrant would apply to a third party found outside of the Eastern District of Virginia.” See Doc. 53 at 6. However, the Government deployed the NIT onto Defendant's own computer, and Defendant is challenging the warrant that purportedly authorized the Government to search that computer. Thus, Defendant possesses standing to challenge the warrant upon which the Government relied. Cf. *612 United States v. Castellanos, 716 F.3d 828, 846 (4th Cir.2013) (detailing ways in which defendants can and cannot establish standing to assert Fourth Amendment claims). This case is readily distinguishable from those holding that defendants cannot assert third parties' Fourth Amendment rights. Unlike the passengers in the car in Rakas, 439 U.S. at 134, 99 S.Ct. 421, Defendant obviously possesses an interest in his own computer, and he thus has standing to contest the NIT Warrant on any grounds he sees fit. As Defendant notes, he challenges the warrant “by demonstrating the invalidity of the warrant that purported to authorize this search.” Doc. 55 at 2. Hence, the Court FINDS that Defendant possesses standing to challenge the NIT Warrant under Rule 41(b) and Section 636. ii. The Magistrate's Authority and Jurisdiction Defendant argues that the magistrate judge “ignored the clearly established jurisdictional limits set forth in Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41” in authorizing the search of computers located anywhere in the world. Doc. 24 at 5-6. Defendant alleges that a warrant issued without authority under Rule 41 necessarily leads to a constitutional violation of Section 636. Doc. 34 at 10; Doc. 55 at 3. The Government contends that Rule 41(b)(1), (2), and (4) support the issuance of the warrant and that a violation of Rule 41 does not automatically result in a constitutional violation. Doc. 53 at 12-16 Several courts have held that the magistrate judge lacked authority and jurisdiction to issue the NIT Warrant used in this case. E.g., Werdene, No. 2:15-cr-00434, ECF No. 33; Levin, 186 F.Supp.3d at 35, 2016 WL 2596010, at *7; Arterbury, No. 15-182, ECF No. 47; Stamper, No. 1:15-cr-109, ECF No. 48; Michaud, 2016 WL 337263, at *6. As the Eastern District of Pennsylvania noted in Werdene, “the courts generally agree that the magistrate judge in Virginia lacked authority under Rule 41 to issue the warrant, [but] they do not all agree that suppression is required or even appropriate.” No. 2:15-cr-00434, ECF No. 33 (collecting cases). The Court disagrees with the other courts that have considered this issue and FINDS that the magistrate judge did not exceed her authority under Rule 41(b). 28The Court FINDS that Rule 41(b)(4) authorized the magistrate judge to issue this warrant. Rule 41(b)(4) endows a magistrate with authority to issue a warrant authorizing the use of a tracking device. Fed. R. Crim. P. 41(b)(4). The tracking device must be installed within the magistrate judge's district, but the warrant “may authorize use of the device to track the movement of a person or property located within the district, outside the district, or both.” Id. The Court recognizes that other courts have held this provision inapplicable to the NIT Warrant. See, e.g, Levin, 186 F.Supp.3d at 34, 2016 WL 2596010, at *6; see also Michaud, 2016 WL 337263, at *6 (noting that “If the ‘installation’ occurred on the government-controlled computer, located in the Eastern District of Virginia, applying the tracking device exception breaks down, because [the defendant] never controlled the government-controlled computer, unlike a car with a tracking device leaving a particular district. If the installation occurred on [the defendant's] computer, applying the tracking device exception again fails, because [the defendant's] computer was never physically located within the Eastern District of Virginia.”). However, whenever someone entered Playpen, he or she made, in computer language, “a virtual trip” via the Internet to Virginia, just as a person logging into a foreign website containing child pornography makes “a virtual trip” overseas. Indeed, in *613 Kyllo v. United States, the Supreme Court held that where “the Government uses a device that is not in general public use, to explore details of the home that would previously have been unknowable without physical intrusion, the surveillance is a ‘search’ and is presumptively unreasonable without a warrant.” 533 U.S. 27, 40, 121 S.Ct. 2038, 150 L.Ed.2d 94 (2001). The majority expressly rejected the dissent's attempts to distinguish “off-the-wall” home surveillance and “through-the-wall” observation. Id. at 35–36, 121 S.Ct. 2038. Thus, in Kyllo, the Supreme Court likened the Government's electronic surveillance of a home via thermal imaging devices to the Government's physical entrance of the surveilled home. Id. at 40, 121 S.Ct. 2038. Accordingly, when users entered Playpen, they came into Virginia in an electronic manner, just as the police in Kyllo entered a home in an electronic manner. Id. Because the NIT enabled the Government to determine Playpen users' locations, it resembles a tracking device. Thus, the NIT Warrant authorized the FBI to install a tracking device on each user's computer when that computer entered the Eastern District of Virginia—the magistrate judge's district. Contrary to the opinion conveyed in Michaud, 2016 WL 337263, at *6, the installation did not occur on the government-controlled computer but on each individual computer that entered the Eastern District of Virginia when its user logged into Playpen via the Tor network. When that computer left Virginia—when the user logged out of Playpen—the NIT worked to determine its location, just as traditional tracking devices inform law enforcement of a target's location. Furthermore, as far as this case is concerned, all relevant events occurred in Virginia. The magistrate judge who issued the warrant thus did so with authority under Rule 41(b)(1)(4). Because the Court FINDS that the magistrate judge complied with Rule 41(b) in issuing this warrant, her actions did not contravene Section 636, because she exercised authority that was “conferred or imposed ... by the Rules of Criminal Procedure for the United States District Courts.” 28 U.S.C. § 636(a)(1). VIII. Even If the Magistrate Judge Issued the NIT Warrant Without Authority or Jurisdiction, Suppression Is Not Warranted A. The Government Did Not Need a Warrant to Deploy the NIT The Court FINDS that no Fourth Amendment violation occurred here because the Government did not need a warrant to capture Defendant's IP address. Therefore, even if the warrant were invalid or void, it was unnecessary, so no constitutional violation resulted from the Government's conduct in this case. i. Legal Standards The Fourth Amendment provides, “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” U.S. Const. amend. IV. Although holding that the Fourth Amendment protects a person's “reasonable expectation of privacy,” the Supreme Court cautioned in Katz v. United States that “the Fourth Amendment cannot be translated into a general constitutional ‘right to privacy.’ ” 389 U.S. 347, 349, 360, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967). 29Traditionally, the privacy concerns embedded in the Fourth Amendment only applied to government actors' physical trespasses. See, e.g., *614 United States v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400, 132 S.Ct. 945, 949–50, 181 L.Ed.2d 911 (2012). The Supreme Court, however, expanded the notion of privacy in Katz, and Justice Harlan in concurrence developed a two-part test, which courts now regularly use to determine whether an action violates the Fourth Amendment: (1) the person must have exhibited an actual (subjective) expectation of privacy, and (2) that expectation must be (objectively) reasonable. 389 U.S. at 361, 88 S.Ct. 507 (Harlan, J., concurring). Hence, to establish a violation of one's rights under the Fourth Amendment, a defendant “must first prove that he had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the place searched or the item seized.” United States v. Simons, 206 F.3d 392, 398 (4th Cir.2000). In order to so prove, the defendant “must show that his subjective expectation of privacy is one that society is prepared to accept as objectively reasonable.” Id. (citing California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35, 39, 108 S.Ct. 1625, 100 L.Ed.2d 30 (1988)). In Katz, the Supreme Court considered whether a reasonable expectation of privacy exists within an enclosed telephone booth. 389 U.S. at 349, 88 S.Ct. 507. Noting that “the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places,” the Court held that the defendant possessed a reasonable expectation of privacy in the words he uttered while in the telephone booth. Id. at 351, 359, 88 S.Ct. 507. In Smith v. Maryland, however, the Supreme Court distinguished Katz, stressing that “a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties.” Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 744, 99 S.Ct. 2577, 61 L.Ed.2d 220 (1979). In Smith, the Supreme Court held that a defendant possessed no expectation of privacy in the phone numbers he dialed, and that, therefore, the installation and use of a pen register to capture the dialed phone numbers did not constitute a search. Id. at 745, 99 S.Ct. 2577. The Court noted that “[a]ll telephone users realize that they must ‘convey’ phone numbers to the telephone company ...” Id. at 742, 99 S.Ct. 2577. Indeed, regardless of the defendant's location or of the steps he took to maintain privacy, he “had to convey that number to the telephone company ...” Id. at 743, 99 S.Ct. 2577. Thus, the Government did not need a warrant to use the pen register to capture the phone numbers the defendant dialed. Id. at 745, 99 S.Ct. 2577. The Ninth Circuit in United States v. Forrester described the dichotomy between Katz and Smith as “a clear line between unprotected addressing information and protected content information.” 512 F.3d 500, 510 (9th Cir.2007). 30Like information revealed to a third party, “[w]hat a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection.” Katz, 389 U.S. at 351, 88 S.Ct. 507. In California v. Ciraolo, the Supreme Court wrote that the “Fourth Amendment protection of the home has never been extended to require law enforcement officers to shield their eyes when passing by a home on public thoroughfares.” 476 U.S. 207, 213, 106 S.Ct. 1809, 90 L.Ed.2d 210 (1986). The Court continued, “[n]or does the mere fact that an individual has taken measures to restrict some views of his activities preclude an officer's observations from a public vantage point ... ” Id. at 213, 106 S.Ct. 1809. Even 1,000 feet above a home represents a “public vantage point” “[i]n an age where +private and commercial flight in the public airways is routine.” Id. at 215, 106 S.Ct. 1809. The defendant in Ciraolo could not reasonably “expect that his marijuana plants,” which he grew in his fenced-in backyard, “were constitutionally protected from being observed with the naked eye from an altitude of 1,000 feet.” Id. at 215, 106 S.Ct. 1809. The Court thus held that *615 police officers who used a plane flown above the defendant's backyard to observe his illegal marijuana plants did not conduct a search in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Id. Similarly, in Minnesota v. Carter, the Supreme Court considered whether a police officer who peered through a gap in a home's closed blinds conducted a search in violation of the Fourth Amendment. 525 U.S. 83, 85, 119 S.Ct. 469, 142 L.Ed.2d 373 (1998). Although the Court did not reach this question, id. at 91, 119 S.Ct. 469, Justice Breyer in concurrence determined that the officer's observation did not violate the respondents' Fourth Amendment rights. Id. at 103, 119 S.Ct. 469 (Breyer, J., concurring). Justice Breyer noted that the “precautions that the apartment's dwellers took to maintain their privacy would have failed in respect to an ordinary passerby standing” where the police officer stood. Id. at 104, 119 S.Ct. 469. He specified that whether the officer conducted an illegal search cannot turn “upon ‘gaps' in drawn blinds. Whether there were holes in the blinds or they were simply pulled the ‘wrong way’ makes no difference.” Id. at 105, 119 S.Ct. 469. “One who lives in a basement apartment that fronts a publicly traveled street, or similar space, ordinarily understands the need for care lest a member of the public simply direct his gaze downward,” he continued. Id. Thus, Justice Breyer opined that peering into a gap in closed blinds is a permissible act under the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 103, 119 S.Ct. 469.