General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Can someone confirm for me that the 4th Amendment even applies? [View all]Laelth
(32,017 posts)We freely (because we have no choice) hand this information over to companies whose services we wish to use, but that doesn't mean we sacrificed all rights to the information. The government has no more right to compel the info. from a company than it does to compel it from us directly. Of course, the Partiot Act and the FISA Amendment say the government can compel the release of this data, but why do you think the Federal Government had to pass a law shielding these companies from liability when they release the info.? It's because it's clearly a violation of the 4th Amendment for them to release this private data to the government unless the government has a warrant issued "upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
The warrant that the NSA uses to collect all this data is far too broad to meet the 4th Amendment's test, imho.
-Laelth