Electronic Surveillance, Computers, and the Fourth Amendment - The New Telecommunications Environment Calls for Reexamination of Doctrine

We are in the midst of a revolution in information collection and telecommunications. Computer networking, the unification of the various telecommunications systems, the establishment of central data banks, and government tracking and profiling of vast numbers of Americans present momentous challenges for our constitutional system. Increasingly, in our evolving culture, an individual enters the public setting in order to conduct his personal life. Fourth Amendment doctrine respecting electronic surveillance, as well as Supreme Court notions of "free choice" and "assumption of risk" must come to grips with this new reality. In the main, the author urges judicial intervention, as the basic mechanism for establishing limits and controls.