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Cell Phone Location Data And The Fourth Amendment: A Question Of Law, Not Fact, Susan Freiwald Dec 2010

Cell Phone Location Data And The Fourth Amendment: A Question Of Law, Not Fact, Susan Freiwald

Susan Freiwald

In a significant ruling in the fall of 2010, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the government’s claim that it could compel cell phone service providers to disclose customer records that indicate the cell towers with which a cell phone has communicated (cell phone location information or CSLI) without obtaining a warrant based on probable cause. In a break with past decisions, the court rejected application of a “third party rule,” under which cell phone users are seen to assume the risk that their providers will disclose location data without the protections of a warrant requirement. The court, however, …


Fourth Amendment Protection For Stored E-Mail, Susan Freiwald, Patricia L. Bellia Dec 2007

Fourth Amendment Protection For Stored E-Mail, Susan Freiwald, Patricia L. Bellia

Susan Freiwald

The question of whether and how the Fourth Amendment regulates government access to stored e-mail remains open and pressing. A panel of the Sixth Circuit recently held in Warshak v. United States, 490 F.3d 455 (6th Cir. 2007), that users generally retain a reasonable expectation of privacy in the e-mails they store with their Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which implies that government agents must generally acquire a warrant before they may compel ISPs to disclose their users' stored e-mails. The Sixth Circuit, however, is reconsidering the case en banc. This Article examines the nature of stored e-mail surveillance and argues …


The Fourth Amendment Status Of Stored E-Mail: The Law Professors’ Brief In Warshak V. United States, Susan Freiwald, Patricia L. Bellia Dec 2006

The Fourth Amendment Status Of Stored E-Mail: The Law Professors’ Brief In Warshak V. United States, Susan Freiwald, Patricia L. Bellia

Susan Freiwald

This paper contains the law professors' brief in the landmark case of Warshak v. United States, the first federal appellate case to recognize a reasonable expectation of privacy in electronic mail stored with an Internet Service Provider (ISP). While the 6th circuit's opinion was subsequently vacated and reheard en banc, the panel decision will remain extremely significant for its requirement that law enforcement agents must generally acquire a warrant before compelling an ISP to disclose its subscriber's stored e-mails. The law professors' brief, co-authored by Susan Freiwald (University of San Francisco) and Patricia L. Bellia (Notre Dame) and signed by …


A First Principles Approach To Communications' Privacy, Susan Freiwald Dec 2006

A First Principles Approach To Communications' Privacy, Susan Freiwald

Susan Freiwald

Under current doctrines, parties to a communication enjoy robust constitutional protection against government surveillance only when they have a reasonable expectation of privacy in those communications. This paper suggests that the surprising dearth of case law applying the reasonable expectations of privacy test to modern electronic communications reflects courts' discomfort with the test's necessarily normative analysis. That discomfort also likely explains courts' use of shortcuts based on Miller v. United States and Smith v. Maryland in those few cases that have considered online surveillance practices. In particular, the government has argued that a broad third party rule deprives electronic mail …