Chapter 19 - Congressional Authority for National Security Surveillance Part I

Smith v. Maryland United States Supreme Court, 442 U.S. 735 (1979) What is a pen-register and why did the police use them? Are the customers of the phone company aware that this information was being collected by the phone company? How is a pen register different from a Katz wiretap? Why isn't the installation of the pen-register a search? What is the search?

United States v. Miller, 425 U.S. 435 (1976) Access to Bank Records ‘‘The depositor takes the risk, in revealing his affairs to another, that the information will be conveyed by that person to the Government. . . . This Court has held repeatedly that the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the obtaining of information revealed to a third party and conveyed by him to Government authorities, even if the information is revealed on the assumption that it will be used only for a limited purpose and the confidence placed in the third party will not be betrayed.’’

Expectation of Privacy Why did the defendant not have an expectation of privacy? Why is the dissent concerned about basing the 4th amendment on reasonable expectations of privacy? Has the court adopted the dissent's view over time?

Subsequent Legislation What sort of warrant requirement did Congress enact? Is this like an administrative search? What does this standard about information provided to third parties tell us about social networking? Information other than conversations that come from Internet and cell phone use?