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Jonaathan Weinberg on 1984 and right to privacy in your trash
From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 13:22:20 -0700
Previous Politech message: http://www.politechbot.com/2005/08/05/montana-supreme-court/ -------- Original Message --------Subject: Re: [Politech] Montana Supreme Court justice warns Orwell's 1984 has arrived [priv]
Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 16:02:04 -0400 From: Jonathan Weinberg <weinberg () mail msen com> To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com> Declan -- In the case you describe, Pelvit argued that Montana's constitution gives that state's citizens greater protections against searches than the U.S. Constitution gives citizens of the country at large. As far as the U.S. Constitution is concerned, the Supreme Court held seven years ago in California v. Greenwood that the police can freely search your garbage; the vote was 6-2. Justice White, writing for the majority, wrote that the determinative question was whether people had a"reasonable expectation of privacy" in the garbage they put out, and continued:
"It is common knowledge that plastic garbage bags left on or at the side of a public street are readily accessible to animals, children, scavengers, snoops, and other members of the public. Moreover, respondents placed their refuse at the curb for the express purpose of conveying it to a third party, the trash collector, who might himself have sorted through respondents' trash or permitted others, such as the police, to do so. Accordingly, having deposited their garbage "in an area particularly suited for public inspection and, in a manner of speaking, public consumption, for the express purpose of having strangers take it," respondents could have had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the inculpatory items that they discarded." Most -- though not quite all -- of the state courts considering the question have reached the same result. Jon Jonaathan Weinberg Professor of Law, Wayne State University weinberg () wayne edu At 12:20 PM 8/5/2005 -0700, you wrote:
http://news.com.com/2061-10796_3-5820618.html Montana Supreme Court justice warns Orwell's 1984 has arrived August 5, 2005 12:13 PM PDT
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- Jonaathan Weinberg on 1984 and right to privacy in your trash Declan McCullagh (Aug 05)