Why don't Americans stand up for their privacy and civil rights?
Jonathan Turley:
"Below is my column today in The Washington Post. The article explores the famed Katz test and whether, in trying to save privacy in America, the Supreme Court may have laid the seeds for its destruction. The test ties our privacy protections to our privacy expectations. Thus, as our expectations falls, warrantless surveillance rises — causing our expectations again fall and in turn allowing warrantless surveillance to rise further. It becomes a face to the bottom of privacy. The terrible truth is that the death of privacy in America will not be accompanied by thunderous applause, but a collective yawn from an indifferent people.
In Katz, the court was dealing with decades of increasing surveillance under the “trespass doctrine,” established in 1928, which allowed the government to conduct warrantless surveillance so long as it did not physically trespass on the property of a citizen. When the court created the ill-conceived doctrine, technology was already making the trespass test meaningless. With new devices, agents could listen to conversations without entering a home or office. This is why the court’s pronouncement that the Constitution “protects people, not places” was such a victory for civil liberties. But what if the people don’t care?
Under the Katz test, warrants would be needed when there is a “reasonable expectation of privacy” by a citizen. But that standard laid the foundation for the demise of privacy. As we come to expect less privacy, we are entitled to less of it.
As warrantless surveillance rises, our expectations fall, allowing such surveillance to become more common. The result is a move toward limitless police powers. Those declining expectations are at the heart of the Obama administration’s argument in Jones, where it insists that the government is free to track citizens without warrants because citizens expect to be monitored.
The problem is not with the government but with us. We are evolving into the perfect cellophane citizens for a new transparent society. We have grown accustomed to living under observation, even reassured by it. So much so that few are likely to notice, let alone mourn, privacy’s passing."
http://jonathanturley.org/2011/11/13/what-much-privacy-do-you-expect-the-death-of-privacy-in-america/