A Brief Explanation of the 4th Amendment - Essay Example

In the case, Katz, who was the petitioner, did not know that the FBI had fixed an eavesdropping device on the telephone booth he used that documented his conversations. He was found guilty, but on appealing, the majority of seven judges on the jury judged that his 4th amendment rights had been violated by the FBI. In the same way, the gathering of my phone records and emails without my consent and knowledge is a violation of the amendment.

In the case, the court noted that as long as an individual would logically know that their conversation is and remains private, then such a conversation is protected by the 4th amendment (Scaros 2011). In support of the view that it is a violation, and amounts to an unreasonable search, Hess and Orthmann (2011) argue that warrantless search is validated when approval for the search is given or if no right to privacy exists. Hence, as gathering phone records and emails is not undertaken with a search warrant or my approval, then it violates the 4th amendment and is unreasonable (Hess and Orthmann 2011).