The Fourth Amendment Third-Party Doctrine

"In the 1970s, the Supreme Court handed down Smith v. Maryland and United States v. Miller

, two of the most important Fourth Amendment decisions of the 20th century. In these cases, the Court held that people are not entitled to an expectation of privacy in information they voluntarily

provide to third parties. This legal proposition, known as the third-party doctrine, permits the

government access to, as a matter of Fourth Amendment law, a vast amount of information about

individuals, such as the websites they visit; who they have emailed; the phone numbers they dial;

and their utility, banking, and education records, just to name a few. Questions have been raised

whether this doctrine is still viable in light of the major technological and social changes over the

past several decades..."

Fourth Amendment