Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the legal sense, the third party doctrine is as inherent to the 4th amendment as anything can be--it's the Supreme Court's binding interpretation of the contours of the phrase "reasonable expectation of privacy." In the practical sense, I strain to see how someone can have a reasonable expectation of privacy in say their e-mail when Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc, data-mine those communications in order to show tar…
Regarding your practical sense argument: I don't see how its strange at all to have an expectation of privacy even if they data mine it -- seems like just a term in a contract to me. For example, if you hire me to protect your valuable manuscripts in my more-secure safe, but grant me in this agreement the exclusive privilege to read these documents with an NDA attached -- would it then obviously follow that I deserve…
Re: Petraeus case shows FBI's authority to read email
#41Right, but that's a contractual expectation between you and say Google. It's not a general expectation that something will remain private. E.g. I expect my shrink not to tell people stuff, but I don't have a 4th amendment claim of he tells the police that I said I'd kill someone.