3 ms·
Third-party doctrine is basically an end-run around the 4th Amendment in the internet age. The government cannot open your mail, but they can compel your e-mai
by nickff 11y ago
Third-party doctrine is basically an end-run around the 4th Amendment in the internet age. The government cannot open your mail, but they can compel your e-mail provider to show them message contents at a reduced evidence burden without giving you a chance to protect your privacy.
- Retric 11y agoIn this comparison Email is a postcard which they can read. It's sent in plain test to any random router along the path. I wonder what if any protections medical records would have in terms of Third-party doctrine.
- nickff 11y agoAnyone can read your letters if they open them, just as anyone can read your e-mails if they open them. Put another way, what do you expect me to do to protect my e-mail privacy? Am I required to do the same for my letter mail? Anyway, what you are saying might be relevant if the government were reading things being transmitted, but they're not. The government can use third party doctrine to open your inbox, or your cloud document accounts. The government is not intercepting e-mails like they might intercept a postcard; they are going in to your house to read the postcard after delivery.
- Retric 11y agoThere is nothing to open with a post card or email. If you don't encrypt email then every system must read the message to pass it along. Saying here any router can read this just fine, but I have some expectation of privacy is like suggesting people should not eves drop on your private CB radio conversation. As to reading email after the fact, they actually do intercept some email. The point is you can't call a CB radio conversation private after the fact.