Today starts the new term at the Supreme Court. FourthAmendment.com points us to an article by Ben Thompson in American Criminal Law Review that mentions some of the surveillance-related cases coming up this term:
It is no secret that technological development and innovation has been accelerating in recent decades at a dizzying pace. As a result, courts increasingly have applied the Fourth Amendment to circumstances involving new technologies that were barely anticipated ten years ago and completely unknown in 1791. This post briefly summarizes some upcoming cases and recent decisions involving the Fourth Amendment and technological change. These cases force the courts to strike a difficult balance between promoting the public good of efficient and effective law enforcement and protecting individuals from unreasonable infringements on their privacy.
Looking at his article, I can see one case that I haven’t covered on this blog but will be covering: United States v. Musgrove, which asks whether touching a mouse and thereby revealing what was hidden by screensaver constitutes a “search” and requires Fourth Amendment protection.