Chalk up another victory for online privacy rights. Last week, California became the latest state to pass a law requiring law enforcement to obtain warrants for online data such as email, text messages, and Tweets. This is in direct contrast to a recent 11th Circuit ruling from May that made clear that the federal judiciary does not consider online data protected by Fourth Amendment rights, saying that data such as cell phone records were information that was “created by a third party” and that “the public is aware that they can be tracked through their cell phones.” This is an important distinction because current Fourth Amendment doctrine requires people to have a “reasonable right of privacy” in any particular item or effect for it to fall under Fourth Amendment protection and thus require a search warrant. Essentially, if your right to privacy isn’t “reasonable,” then the right doesn’t exist. The dissenting judges…
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