Technology Rewrites the Fourth Amendment

[Commentary] Technology has changed how information flows, how people communicate, and even the meaning of "friend," which has become a verb. Now, add to the imperial reach of technology the power to rewrite constitutional protections.

A case argued last week in the Supreme Court hinges on what Americans consider "reasonable" under the Fourth Amendment's prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures. Not even Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook has always correctly anticipated how much privacy people expect, so imagine how hard this is for nine people trained as lawyers, not engineers or online marketers. The justices did their best. There is an element of circularity to Fourth Amendment rights. As we get used to new technology, expectations of privacy decrease and more searches seem reasonable. Instead of trying to set a new legal definition of reasonableness in stone, the justices might embrace humility and leave it to legislators to outlaw overzealous law enforcement.