The Hill: Congress must act to protect data privacy before courts make surveillance even easier

The Hill: Congress must act to protect data privacy before courts make surveillance even easier by Ashley Baker:

The Fourth Amendment was established in a time when privacy expectations could be articulated through a simple maxim that “every man’s home is his castle.” In the 21st century, however, our most private information is often guarded not by walls or with a key, but by the companies — Microsoft, Verizon, and the like — that provide us with access to the data cloud.

In a perfect world, the technologies of today would be met with the same principles that were laid out in the Fourth Amendment by our founders. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done. Technology has added lots of complications, and we are left trying to figure out what a reasonable search is in the age of the data cloud.

Much of the doctrine of the Fourth Amendment is based on definitions that are ill-equipped for dealing with challenges in the era of cloud computing. …