High-tech Snooping Threatens Our Privacy :: Free Argumentative Essays

High-tech Snooping Threatens Our Privacy The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution statesThe right of the people to be secure in their persons ho employments, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. The Fourth Amendment values privacy in the nucleotide and protects peoples privacy from unlawful search and invasion.This topic interests me because I am concerned about the recent use of thermal mental imagery and the ways it could be used to invade the average citizens privacy. Thermal vision devices allows police to view heat as a discernible light image. When police use this technique as a means of gathering evidence before a warrant is obtained, it can be give tongue to to violate our guaranteed Fourth Amendment rights under the Constitutio n. In the recent Supreme Court case, Kyllo v. United Sates, the Supreme Court held that police use of a thermal imaging device to scan a suspects residence violated his right under the Fourth Amendment. The decision had reversed a federal appeals court ruling purpose the scan lawful (Is warrantless?).In the case cited, police suspected Kyllo was growing marijuana in his home. They used a thermal imaging device from crossways the street to scan Kyllos home to see if the level of heat escaping from it was consistent with high-intensity lights used to grow marijuana indoors. The result of the scan showed that portions of Kyllos home were relatively risque compared to the rest of his home. Using the result of the scan, as well as other information, police obtained a warrant to search Kyllos home, and found a marijuana-growing operation in their search.When the trial court refused to suppress the evidence, Kyllo appealed to the federal court and challenged the legality of the search, saying a search warrant should have been obtained prior to using the thermal imaging device. Law-enforcement officials argued that a warrant was not required before a using technological surveillance device that merely records information about a home that is exposed to public view.The federal appeals court affirmed the trial courts decision, finding that Kyllo had no subjective expectation of privacy because he did not try to cover the heat escaping from his home. Even if he had, the appeals court said, there was no objectively reasonable expectation of privacy because the thermal imager did not expose any outline details of Kyllos life, only vague hot spots on his homes exterior.