s Protected by Fourth Amendment Right of Privacy By: Xavier Mulligan

Summary Of Case Appeals court upheld an injunction against government search of all s of a person suspected of committing certain crimes. s are protected by the Fourth Amendment, in order to seize the s they must get a warrant. The government was investigating Warshak for evidence of money laundering and mail and wire fraud. Investigators got a court order requiring Warshak’s internet service provider to turn over to government agents all of Warshak’s account information. He contended the original order violated his Fourth Amendment rights.

Decision Individuals have a reasonable privacy in s that are stored with, or sent or received through, commercial ISPs. Which means the Fourth Amendment protection applies to s. The Stored Communications Act requires warrants or notices be issued for government agents to have access to s. Most ISPs screen s for viruses, spam and child pornography does not mean that users’ expectation of privacy in content of s is waived. When a warrant is issued to allow s to be seized, there must be a specific target tied to the reasonable belief of a crime.

Key Words Fourth Amendment- The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights that prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause Criminal investigation- Criminal Investigation is an applied science that involves the study of facts, used to identify, locate and prove the guilt of a criminal Warrants- a document issued by a legal or government official authorizing the police or some other body to make an arrest, search premises, or carry out some other action relating to the administration of justice - messages distributed by electronic means from one computer user to one or more recipients via a network Privacy- the state or condition of being free from being observed or disturbed by other people