Question

The line drawn to mark where and/or when you have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" can get quite fuzzy, particularly in this age of evolving technology.

Scenario: Your government employer seeks to search, without a search warrant, the records and transcripts of the text messages you had sent on an employer owned device (cell phone, etc.) or the information and e-mails stored on a computer in your government office. What are your arguments for claiming that you had a reasonable expectation of privacy, and that the searches violated the 4th Amendment?

Let's change the scenario a bit - What about private text messages or e-mails sent to your spouse from the same government owned devices, but while you were at home and off duty?

Finally, what about private data, images or information stored on a personally owned thumb drive that you attached to a government owned device?

Answer 1

The Fourth Amendment on privacy rights does not guarantee "reasonable expectation of privacy" for content stored or sent/received on company / government owned devices.

Hence, the government employer is entitled to search, without a search warrant, text or images stored on a computer in a government office. The user does not have absolute right of privacy for data stored in employer's device. The user may though demand an explanation for "intrusive" search and be satisfied by the response from the employer without recourse to protest.

All content, even if private messages to family members stored or sent through company owned devices are liable to be scanned by the government employer in case of any reasonable suspicion. This is also true to personally owned thumb drive attached to government owned device.

It is therefore appropriate to not use any government owned device for storage or exchange of personal content.