Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Retric 1118 days ago
A doctor can hold your papers even if they created them and you’re unaware they exist.

Why wouldn’t this apply to metadata about you? It’s just as much your information as the results of a cholesterol test.

1 comments

Do you believe your cholesterol test results are protected by the 4th?
Personally yes though the courts disagree except under HIPPA police need a search warrant to get them.

So culturally we do think they should be even if the legal system disagrees.

The only thing my original comment only talks about what is protected by 4th amendment. If your test results aren't protected by the 4th, why bring them up?
I think it’s covered by the 4th amendment based on the words as written and the intent at the time of writing it. So, yes I absolutely think the 4th amendment protects such documents.

The Supreme Court has uses a narrower definition. That’s doesn’t mean they are correct but the justice system isn’t actually based on the constitution directly it’s based on past rulings by the Supreme Court.

My bringing up HIPPA was simply pointing out that even though the legal system doesn’t protect them based on the 4th, it does protect them. Further the reason this part of HIPPA exists is the same reason the 4th was written.