> 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 co

> 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." Not really, because it has only been applied (and kept from application) piecemeal. Warrants required for wiretaps is one good example of where the Supreme Court has said the third party doctrine does not hold. The 6th circuit has actually ruled that email (even if older than six months) is protected by the 4th amendment. That's why many are hoping the supreme court will take up the case, or congress will amend the Stored Communications Act to clear up the inconsistencies. 6th Circuit: Given the fundamental similarities between email and traditional forms of communication [like postal mail and telephone calls], it would defy common sense to afford emails lesser Fourth Amendment protection.... It follows that email requires strong protection under the Fourth Amendment; otherwise the Fourth Amendment would prove an ineffective guardian of private communication, an essential purpose it has long been recognized to serve.... [T]he police may not storm the post office and intercept a letter, and they are likewise forbidden from using the phone system to make a clandestine recording of a telephone call--unless they get a warrant, that is. It only stands to reason that, if government agents compel an ISP to surrender the contents of a subscriber's emails, those agents have thereby conducted a Fourth Amendment search, which necessitates compliance with the warrant requirement. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/12/breaking-news-eff-victory-appeals-court-holds https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/12/breaking-news-eff-vict... > 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 targeted advertisements... We're talking the government here, not companies. You can agree to all sorts of things that the government can't compel you to do. I'm not sure how this is relevant.