I could not agree more with your analysis of government intrusion & social media. The entire “private” company argument position falls apart when government coercion is in play. Having spent my entire career in federal law enforcement, I view this through the following analogy. If an individual approaches me as a federal agent and relat…
I could not agree more with your analysis of government intrusion & social media. The entire “private” company argument position falls apart when government coercion is in play. Having spent my entire career in federal law enforcement, I view this through the following analogy. If an individual approaches me as a federal agent and relates that the private company he works for is engaged in criminal activity, and that he has stolen records from the company to prove this, I can accept these documents and use them in my investigation & subsequent trial. On the other hand, if this same individual is an informant of mine, and I instruct or otherwise encourage him to steal these same documents, I cannot use them in any way, shape or form. That would constitute a 4th amendment violation, and any court would suppress that evidence. The difference of course is that the 4th amendment protects us from unlawful searches or seizures conducted BY the government. In the first example it’s a private citizen acting completely on his own, no 4th amendment protection applies. The second example involves government direction, and is a clear 4th amendment violation. The federal agent would need to obtain a lawful search warrant, approved by a federal judge, to obtain those records.
I could not agree more with your analysis of government intrusion & social media. The entire “private” company argument position falls apart when government coercion is in play. Having spent my entire career in federal law enforcement, I view this through the following analogy. If an individual approaches me as a federal agent and relates that the private company he works for is engaged in criminal activity, and that he has stolen records from the company to prove this, I can accept these documents and use them in my investigation & subsequent trial. On the other hand, if this same individual is an informant of mine, and I instruct or otherwise encourage him to steal these same documents, I cannot use them in any way, shape or form. That would constitute a 4th amendment violation, and any court would suppress that evidence. The difference of course is that the 4th amendment protects us from unlawful searches or seizures conducted BY the government. In the first example it’s a private citizen acting completely on his own, no 4th amendment protection applies. The second example involves government direction, and is a clear 4th amendment violation. The federal agent would need to obtain a lawful search warrant, approved by a federal judge, to obtain those records.
Great explanation. Thanks very much. I hadn't even thought about it from the perspective of the 4th amendment.