Pulling plug on privacy How technology helped make the 4th Amendment obsolete

[TalkingDog]

This explains exactly why I don't use my personal information for anything, from supermarket loyalty cards to Face Book pages. In other words: Yes, I lie to all those entities. It's my privacy.


http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/06/22/062211-opinions-oped-privacy-kozinski-grace-1-2/

It started with the supermarket loyalty programs. They seemed innocuous enough — you just scribble down your name, number and address in exchange for a plastic card and a discount on Oreos. The problem, at least constitutionally speaking, is that the Fourth Amendment protects only what we reasonably expect to keep private. One facet of this rule, known as the third party doctrine, is that we don’t have reasonable expectations of privacy in things we’ve already revealed to other people or the public.

You would, for example, have a reasonable expectation of privacy for a photograph on your nightstand meaning the police would need probable cause and a warrant before taking a peek. But you lose that expectation of privacy when you tack the souvenir photo from Foamhenge on the office bulletin board to make co-workers envious.

Letting stores track our purchases may not appear to be permitting an intensely personal revelation but, as the saying goes, you are what you eat, and we inevitably reveal more than we thought. Have diapers in your cart? You probably have a baby. Tofu? Probably a vegetarian. A case of Muscatel a week? An alcoholic (with poor taste, at that). The cards also track the “where” and “when” of our shopping expeditions. Making a late-night run to a convenience store near your ex-girlfriend’s house? Buying posters and markers the day before a political rally? If you swiped your card, all that information is now public.

If you think police have turned a blind eye to this wealth of information, guess again. Without the protections of the Fourth Amendment, the police are free to mine the commercial databases storing our personal information without any suspicion whatsoever. Consider the case of Philip Scott Lyons in 2004: Police arrested the firefighter for arson after discovering he purchased a fire starter with his Safeway Club Card. The charges weren’t dropped until someone else confessed; not everyone will be so lucky.

[midnight]

1. I find myself saying there ought to be a law...... A law that

my personal data can't be asked in exchange for a discount on Oreos.....

[TalkingDog]

2. There's no law saying you can't lie in exchange for a discount on Oreos

I pick a local business address, make up a name, voila! Discounted Oreos.

There is no way to invade the privacy of someone who doesn't exist.

[awoke_in_2003]

4. i do this too. nt

[JDPriestly]

3. Congress could easily change the interpretation of the Fourth Amendment

by statute. Electronic data could be kept private and free from government snoops. That would save a lot of money to boot. Why in the world anyone would be interested in how I spend my money is beyond me. I don't spend much.