Hacker News with Generative AI: Fourth Amendment

U.S. Spy Agencies–One-Stop Shop to Buy Your Personal Data (theintercept.com)
The ever-growing market for personal data has been a boon for American spy agencies. The U.S. intelligence community is now buying up vast volumes of sensitive information that would have previously required a court order, essentially bypassing the Fourth Amendment. But the surveillance state has encountered a problem: There’s simply too much data on sale from too many corporations and brokers.
Court rules FBI's warrantless searches violated Fourth Amendment (arstechnica.com)
It's official: The FBI's warrantless searches of communications seized to protect US national security have at last been ruled unconstitutional and in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
Court: Warrantless Searches of an Immigration Lawyer's Phone Are Constitutional (techdirt.com)
In an altogether unsurprising decision [PDF], a Texas federal court has ruled no one’s rights are violated when CBP or ICE agents seize an immigration lawyer’s phone without a warrant and run invasive searches to access the device’s contents.
Federal Court Says Dismantling a Phone to Install Firmware Isn't a 'Search' (techdirt.com)
This is probably the correct conclusion to arrive at, at least at this point in extremely limited jurisprudence, but it still raises some questions courts will likely have to confront in the future. Is manhandling a phone to make it responsive to a search itself a search, or does the Fourth Amendment not kick in until after the search of the phone’s contents occurs? (h/t FourthAmendment.com)
Google’s TOS doesn’t eliminate a user’s Fourth Amendment rights, judge rules [pdf] (uscourts.gov)
Lawsuit Argues Warrantless Use of Flock Surveillance Cameras Is Unconstitutional (404media.co)
A civil liberties organization has filed a federal lawsuit in Virginia arguing that widespread surveillance enabled by Flock, a company that sells networks of automated license plate readers, is unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment.
The Feds Are Skirting the 4th Amendment by Buying Data from Tech Companies (reason.com)