On Tuesday, September 13, 2016, Georgetown University Professor of Law, Laura Donohue, gave a talk on the “Fourth Amendment in a Digital World” at Yale Law School. Professor Donohue laid out the Fourth Amendment doctrines developed by federal courts in the 70’s and 80’s, and demonstrated how these are inadequate when it comes to the digital world. Primarily, Donohue explained that past binary distinctions are eroding in the digital era, for example — how do we distinguish between “public information” and “private information” in the digital world? In what way should we address transnational communications, when those are routed through multiple countries? How should we regulate personal data held by third parties, who constantly transmit it to law enforcement authorities? All these challenges, and more, were addressed by Professor Donohue, as she argued that we need a new Fourth Amendment doctrine to meet the challenges of the digital world and protect people from unreasonable search and seizure. In doing so, Donohue referenced several court decisions, who focused their reasonableness evaluation on a multitude of factors — extend and type of information collected, length of collection, number of individuals affected, and more. This talk was co-sponsored by the Center for Global Legal Challenges and the Information Society Project.
