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by nobody9999 1072 days ago
>What is uplifting is that law is on the side of the people who want privacy as its in the constitution.

Is it? Are you referring the the Fourth Amendment?

   The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and 
   effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, 
   and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or 
   affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the 
   persons or things to be seized.
While that's a nice fantasy, it's not the reality.

Firstly, while the fourth amendment does preclude the government from rifling through your physical belongings without a warrant, the Third-Party Doctrine[0] allows the government to get pretty much any of your information and private data if you provide it to a third party.

What's more, corporations are not subject to the fourth amendment and can do pretty much whatever they want and you have no recourse.

I wish you were right, as I value my privacy. Sadly, you're not.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-party_doctrine
1 comments
georgeplusplus 1072 days ago
>>>While that's a nice fantasy, it's not the reality.

I was responding to many of OPs bullet list focused towards the government.

I mean it is the supreme law of the land. So I am confident it is not fantasy. That the people only need to assert their rights, that is the fantasy.

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nobody9999 1071 days ago
>I mean it is the supreme law of the land. So I am confident it is not fantasy. That the people only need to assert their rights, that is the fantasy.

I take your point and, as an American, I agree that's how it should be. What's more, upon further reflection, "fantasy" was probably too strong a term.

That said, there are serious issues around privacy in the US, given the legal jurisprudence around data you provide to others, especially since so many folks have their whole lives "in the cloud" (i.e., someone else's servers).

As such, I urge you to learn about and understand the Third-Party Doctrine[0].

It has a long legal history and is well established law in the US.

And it allows the government to obtain, without a warrant, any and all information you provide to a third party. That could be your cellular/email providers, your ISP, whoever stores your smart watch data, the company that hosts your menstrual period data, anyone to whom you willingly give information.

Granted, that third party could refuse and force the government to get a warrant/court order, but it's not required.

For many people that pretty much obviates most privacy protections of the Fourth Amendment.

That we have a right to "be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures," isn't at issue.

The issue is that so much of what you consider "private" data isn't private if you give it to a third party. And these days, we do that a lot by sharing our most private information with whoever hosts the app which tracks that information.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-party_doctrine

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