The Right to Privacy (Sorry....The Expectation thereof)

Hmm....what to talk about today I wonder...

Let's talk about a wonderful subject, one I know is growing in popularity as the digital age progresses.  And the lucky subject of the day IS:  Your Right of Privacy.

Now, let's start with the fact that most Americans consider themselves private people.  Didn't used to that way, mind you.  Back a little more than a century ago, we depended on each other massively, just to survive.  In the 20th century, our doors and windows were wide open, and it was a neighbor's duty to keep an eye out for the neighborhood.  Now we pull out the pistol or let the dog loose every time we hear our doorknobs rattle.  Keep the cookies and the apple pie, we don't wanna know who you are.  You stay on your side of the fence and we'll stay on ours.  Don't bother us, we won't bother you.  Doors are constantly locked and rechecked, windows stay latched, and our fences get higher and higher as the years continue on.

It's all about privacy.  Or, more than likely, privacy is wanted because of rising paranoia.  The news is, and has more prominently been, quite simply, all bad.  Usually worse than it really is.  And what's more, we can't just let it go after we tell it once, we repeat those bad segments over and over again.  No wonder privacy is such a big deal.  We're scared to death to even walk out onto our porches.  Walk outside your door and pay attention to the way you act when you do.  I'll bet your first instinct is to look around.  You're checking out the houses in your neighborhood.  Noticing everything.  Looking for strange people walking along your sidewalks.  Long gone are those days when you whistled a tune as you hopped out to the car, hollering over to your favorite neighbor and asking how the wife and kids are doing.  Now you slant your eyes, noticing things that would never have been really all that strange 40 years ago, and whispering to the wife, asking what she thinks those people are REALLY doing over there.  Unless they're 100 years old and obviously not a risk.  Then it's OK to holler.

So, privacy.  That's what we're after, that's what we expect to have, and to receive.  Heck, it's our right as Americans.  The Right to Privacy.  Uh, but wait.  Here's the deal.  There is no such thing.  There is no sentence in the Constitution, or its Amendments that address your right to privacy.  It's a myth!  It doesn't exist.  "But the 4th Amendment, what's that all about?" you ask.

All there really is, over the course of our existence is the EXPECTATION of privacy.  That one's in the rule books.  Not your right to have privacy.  Only your expectation of that right.  It's your right to expect that, either law enforcement, or the government, can't just waltz into your home and say "Ah-HAH!!  So the rumors are true!  You really ARE a child molester, and here's our proof!  You have a child here!"  This means that, whether it's law enforcement or the government, they can't walk into your home for NO reason whatsoever, and take whatever they like to make a case against you.  This doesn't say, exactly, that they can't just make up reasons or produce false evidence, or SAY they have witnesses or enough OTHER proof to get the job done.  I'm sure, given enough strong feelings that you are most definitely guilty, that anyone who feels they have enough reason couldn't convince a judge to give out a warrant.  It's called "taking your chances."  I'm sure it's done, and it's done a lot more than we think it is.

Then, there's martial law.  Martial law states that the government, either on a state or federal level, may suspend your rights mentioned by the Fourth Amendment.  Your expectation of privacy doesn't even exist then.  I love that.  If they feel you, as Americans or state residents are getting out of hand, then all your rights concerning...well, ANYTHING are OUT THE WINDOW.

Really, your "expectation of privacy" holds true in only one place.  Your home, or residence, whether temporary or permanent.  And, that's not really the truth either.  If you're in your home, and you're doing something illegal, and the neighbor, who happened to be mowing his lawn at the time, notices that there's one little hole that you forgot to cover, looks in and sees you beating up a friend of his.  He calls the police, and you get arrested.  Because you forgot to cover that hole, your expectation of privacy is OUT THE WINDOW.  Your intent might have been for no one to look into that hole, but it was there, and they did.  You now have no expectation of privacy.  You didn't cover every inch of every window.  It's your problem.

Or better yet, let's say you're in your home, and you're printing up money, or are just suspected to be doing so.  Because you've been noted as someone that may be passing off counterfeit money, your home can be immediately invaded by law enforcement, with no warning needed whatsoever.  Oh sure, they have to have probable cause to do so, and proof, or a witness, as well as a court issued warrant, but what it really means is, they only need these things, and your right to what little privacy you have is OUT THE WINDOW.

Also, by home or residence, that only applies to home or property that you own free and clear.  If you're renting?  There is none.  The landlord or title owner has the right, whenever they feel like it, pretty much, to invade your space.  There is individual state law that protects you somewhat, like ours, where the landlord is required to notify you of his possible presence at your apartment door in 24 hours or more, but mostly, there's no privacy there.  And if you're buying your home, either on contract, or in the normal fashion, and you either default on your home loan, or miss a payment covered by the contract you signed?  Your belongings and your home can be seized by either the bank that gave you the loan, or the person you're buying from on contract.  Your "expectation of privacy?"....OUT THE WINDOW.

OK, so what about out in the world?  Well, there's really only an "expectation of privacy" in certain places out there as well.  Bathrooms.  Dressing Rooms.  Voter's booths.  Church confessionals.  Enclosed offices, either with your attorney, your priest, or your psychiatrist.  Granted.  However, if someone goes to the courtesy counter to report that you might be smoking pot in the bathroom stall, or that you may be stuffing store items in your pants in the dressing room, that privacy is also OUT THE WINDOW.  You're on someone else's property, possibly doing wrong.  You have no real expectation of privacy out in public.

Invasion of privacy is a hard thing to prove.  It all depends on case law.  Obviously, the folks that drew up our Constitution had no idea we would have phones to call each other, let alone that we would one day have wireless phones we could take with us wherever we went.  They knew nothing of automobiles or campers.  State or Federal case law has done a lot to help us with our expectation of privacy, but it still has a long way to go in my opinion.  I remember studying evidence, and there was a case about someone's tennis shoe pattern that looked like one that might be connected to a crime.  An officer asked the person, while they were being interviewed concerning a particular crime, to lift up their shoes so that the officer could inspect his shoe pattern.  He showed them, but he was intoxicated at the time, so he sued to suppress that evidence, stating that if he had not been intoxicated at the time, he would never have agreed to do so (by the way, the pattern did indeed match).  It was ruled that, since, when walking down the street, that shoe pattern could be easily seen anyway by anyone, the wearer had no expectation of privacy.  The shoes, which were the entire reason for a search and seizure at the man's home, were considered a good reason to issue the warrant resulting in the man's arrest, and the shoes were "seized" for evidence.  I'd have to say it would all depend on the way the guy walked, myself, if you really want to nitpick at it.

The one I really enjoy though, is the expectation of privacy where cell phones and the internet are concerned.  If you're in your home, and you're on a land-line, there are privacy laws that cover this.  Phone tapping case law is all over the books.  However, if you're using a cell phone, your expectation of privacy is OUT THE WINDOW.  You're talking or texting wirelessly, and your conversations are able to be picked right out of the air at any time.  If you're using a laptop, or on your cellphone using the internet, the same thing applies.  OUT THE WINDOW.  If you're hard-wired to the internet, then it's like a land-line phone in that case.  You have some expectation of privacy there.  Internet is WIRED to your phone line, or through your installed cable wires.

Ok, so what about your email?  The same rules apply.  It might be your mail, but if you're checking it on your phone or your wireless connection, again, you have no expectation of privacy.  If you're checking your mail on a company owned or a library computer?  Again, you have no right to privacy.  The email account might belong to you, but the computer you're using does NOT.  Your expectation of privacy is OUT THE WINDOW.

Are things becoming clear to you now?  Just because you have a 10 ft. fence around your yard doesn't mean you have a right to privacy, any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.  If someone can look through any part of the boarding or the bricks you built it with, or can see over it in any way, your expectation of privacy does not apply.

Finally, we have the camera.  There are cameras everywhere - In the store, in the street, on buildings, in your computers and on your phones, and in the sky above us.  These cameras have recently acquired the ability to see through walls, and can even see you as if you were standing outside.  Satellites can be used to zoom in on you at street level, and there are ways to identify you, though you may be completely disguised, just by the way you walk.  Your phones are just like your laptops, and with the right programs you can hack into the cameras in these devices and spy on the user.  You've seen those programs where they tell you how to completely disappear?  I'd have to say that those shows are completely obsolete.  There is NO way to do so, unless you dig a hole a mile and a half down into the earth's surface, leaving all your devices behind forever...and even then I have to wonder.  Your expectation of privacy may someday be a thing of the past.  I see it coming with every camera they put up, or put on your phone or computer.  Do yourself a favor.  If you really value your privacy, you'll put a piece of black electrical tape on every webcam and phone camera you own.

Until next time y'all.  Enjoy your lives.  Live in pieces.  Live by the sword and die by the sword.