Class Action Lawsuit Against Google For Unreasonable Search & Seizure
Would it be possible to use the Fourth Amendment to protect yourself against Google indexing your content? Search and seizure laws are a bit more complex than that, but they all stem from here:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
I know you can use a robots.txt file to keep your information from being indexed, but many search engines do not actually respect that protocol:
The protocol, however, is purely advisory. It relies on the cooperation of the web robot, so that marking an area of a site out of bounds with robots.txt does not guarantee privacy.
I know Google does not (officially) constitute a government agency, but their close cooperation with same certainly makes them an enabler for search and seizure, as they have data profiles available on individuals which could be used to provide “probable cause” for more extensive physical searches.
And if this isn’t applicable right this second with Google indexing web pages, what about when they begin indexing real world content?
{See also: police spiders in Minority Report, Why Personal Data Ownership Is So Important}



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November 12th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
This is the issue. You’ll need a Constitutional lawyer to nit pick the fine points. There are a lot of things governments aren’t allowed to do but you are allowed to give up rights to corportations for other things of value.
November 12th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
Well, this is *supposed* to be one of the bases for modern democractic systems of government
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract