Scholarship@WashULaw

Document Type

Essay

Publication Date

2017

Publication Title

National Constitution Center, A Twenty-First Century Framework for Digital Privacy – White Paper Series

Abstract

In Secret Government Searches and Digital Civil Liberties, Neil Richards tackles the issue of what he describes as “secret government searches”—namely, examples of government surveillance that remain a secret to the search target. These can be physical or digital, carried out with a warrant or without, and unknown to everyone but the government or facilitated by a private company that is prohibited from notifying the target. Richards places these secret searches in historical, technological, and constitutional context and argues that they are unprecedented, historically and technologically, and inconsistent with key constitutional values, including freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.

Keywords

Surveillance, Government Surveillance, Privacy, Freedom of Thought, Freedom of Expression, Unreasonable Searches and Seizures

Publication Citation

Neil M. Richards, Secret Government Searches and Digital Civil Liberties, National Constitution Center: A Twenty-First Century Framework for Digital Privacy – White Paper Series 1 (2017)

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