HIGH-TECH BRIDLE

Court's Ruling Protects Our Home Privacy

This week's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court reinforced, but only by a
slim majority, the tenets of the Fourth Amendment, our basic right of
privacy in a technologically advancing world.

Its important ruling on Monday established that Americans have a
constitutional protection from high-tech snooping devices that
circumvent law enforcement's need for a court-issued warrant to invade
your home. It is now possible for police to watch you without physically
intruding.

Federal officers were involved in a drug investigation in Oregon in
which they used a thermal imaging device to track the movements of
suspects in a private home. It was the government's contention that no
warrant was necessary because the infrared scan was only catching heat
from entities inside the house that were being emitted outside the
structure.

That argument was supported by four of the nine justices. However, the
majority saw it for what it was, a transparent argument for evading the
Fourth Amendment's requirement for a warrant to search a home.

Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, cogently noted, "In
the home ... all details are intimate details, because the entire area
is held safe from prying government eyes," adding that homeowners should
not be "at the mercy of advanced technology."

Police must obtain a warrant before any intrusive high-tech device is
used to gain private information from within a residence. And that is
the way it should remain.

This will not be the last fight for privacy involving the misuse of the
new technology.