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Developments on the Fourth Amendment
and Privacy to the 21st Century
Katharine Leigh
The fantastic advances in the field of electronic communication
constitute a greater danger to the privacy of the individual.
—Earl Warren1
You already have zero privacy. Get over it!
—Scott McNealy, CEO Sun Microsystems, 19992
INTRODUCTION
The definition of the right to privacy can be found in many places. Mer-
riam-Webster Online defines the right to privacy as “the qualified legal right
of a person to have reasonable privacy in not having his private affairs made
known or his likeness exhibited to the public having regard to his habits,
mode of living, and
occupation.”3
The right to privacy is considered to be a
human right, designed to restrain both governments and private parties from
violating a person’s privacy. This right developed in North and South Amer-
ica over centuries. In Colonial times, concerns over privacy issues affected
the burgeoning Postal Service. The issues could also be seen in the search and
seizures conducted by British government officials.
Concerns over the right to privacy can been seen within the first ten amend-
ments, also known as the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment protects the
freedom of beliefs, including religion, free speech, the right to assemble, and
the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. The Third
Amendment protects the privacy of the home, stating that a soldier cannot
be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner. The Fourth
