Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge of the 9th Circuit, co-authored an excellent piece mourning the death of the 4th Amendment. His principle observation? We have voluntarily joined loyalty card programs, online retailer account programs, electronic toll passes, and smartphone accounts. Consequently, all information regarding our shopping, travel habits, even web history is considered “public.” This enables police to mine this data willy-nilly.
But wait, you say: Judge Kozinski is crying wolf, the only people with anything to fear are criminals. Actually, Judge Kozinski is one of the most intelligent, technologically savvy people on the bench today. I can only imagine that his co-author & law clerk, Stephanie Grace, is like minded. They mention a case in 2004 where police arrested firefighter Philip Scott Lyons for arson “after discovering he purchased a fire starter with his Safeway Club Card. The charges weren’t dropped until someone else confessed; not everyone will be so lucky.”
I have no qualms about marketers having a better understanding of who I am so that they can target me with more appropriate products. I am greatly concerned about the police–or other people who I have not specifically authorized–accessing the same.
Perhaps it is time for me to update my “reasonable expectation of privacy.”