>My guess is that the fact this guy ran the operation from his bedroom, and they weren't sure whether he would co-operate or not, was the reason they seized the disk rather than just subpoena him. Presumably if it was hotmail or gmail this wouldn't have happened.
Is this somehow supposed to be acceptable? "We weren't sure you would come down to the station and answer some questions, so we arrested you (without charge) and held you for a day."
Isn't it normal for police to seize evidence in cases like this? Your comparison doesn't seem very helpful, as there is a big difference between holding someone at a police station vs seizing evidence.
I admit there is a big difference between someone's property and someone's liberty. However I still don't feel it's justified to potentially invade thousands of other user's privacy in order to gather evidence, especially since they could have subpoenaed him and he has a history of complying with such requests.
Is this somehow supposed to be acceptable? "We weren't sure you would come down to the station and answer some questions, so we arrested you (without charge) and held you for a day."