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Comment by anabranch

You're touching on this but the importance of tangible vs intangible property cannot be understated. In Katz v United States: "Because the Fourth Amendment protects people, rather than places, its reach cannot turn on the presence or absence of a physical intrusion into any given enclosure. " https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/389/347/

That sets a good precedent but gets destroyed in Smith v Maryland

"Petitioner in all probability entertained no actual expectation of privacy in the phone numbers he dialed, and even if he did, his expectation was not "legitimate." First, it is doubtful that telephone users in general have any expectation of privacy regarding the numbers they dial, since they typically know that they must convey phone numbers to the telephone company and that the company has facilities for recording this information and does, in fact, record it for various legitimate business purposes. And petitioner did not demonstrate an expectation of privacy merely by using his home phone, rather than some other phone, since his conduct, although perhaps calculated to keep the contents of his conversation private, was not calculated to preserve the privacy of the number he dialed. Second, even if petitioner did harbor some subjective expectation of privacy, this expectation was not one that society is prepared to recognize as "reasonable." When petitioner voluntarily conveyed numerical information to the phone company and "exposed" that information to its equipment in the normal course of business, he assumed the risk that the company would reveal the information" https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/442/735/case.htm...

That's where things get fucked up.

Simply because you use a service means that you assume the risk that the company would reveal that information. Privacy is not guaranteed as soon as you use a service - setting the precedence for NSA mass surveillance. Unfortunately, these laws were passed when the fact that everyone you know, interact with, and communicate with is in your pocket all the time.

Different laws for different times...

parent anabranch 12 years ago

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