[wat10000]

The government never needs a warrant merely to ask for info, and a private entity doesn't need a warrant to voluntarily hand over info that they have. If we had decent privacy protections then a private entity couldn't decide to just hand over whatever data they have on others, but, well, we don't.

[paulryanrogers]

Increasingly it's becoming necessary to disclose data to private entities just to survive and live a reasonable approximation of a normal life.

Why have constitutional protection against search if in practice nothing can be shielded from such searches?

[esseph]

> Why have constitutional protection against search if in practice nothing can be shielded from such searches?

Now you begin to understand.

And it is extremely unlikely we ever get a constitutional amendment to fix it. We're more likely to simply fall apart as a nation first.

[fhdkweig]

Every once in a while a company will publicly push back on such requests, but I feel it is getting rarer. Public libraries are a good example of places that still care about privacy, but companies that have to worry about going out of business because of a heavy-handed government tend to cave easily.