Summary: Fremont Weeks V. United States

1367 Words3 Pages

The emergence of new and innovative technology can be used in many deceitful or secretive ways by law enforcement agencies to convict a suspect. The Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights has had a large influence in regulating the ways that law enforcement agencies may use technology against the everyday citizen. Technology can be used to obtain information on an individual without the individual being aware of the invasion of their privacy: e-mail accounts can be hacked, IP addresses can be traced, phones can be tapped and tracked, cars can be bugged. Weeks v. United States (1914) Fremont Weeks was was convicted of using the mail to transport illegal lottery tickets. When Weeks was arrested, police officers went to Weeks' house to search it. The officers gained entry to his house after a neighbor told them where to find the spare key. Officers entered Weeks’ house without a search warrant. The officers …show more content…

United States (1967) Charles Katz used a public pay phone booth to transmit operate under secret matters pertaining to illegal gambling, and the transportation of the illegal payouts from Los Angeles to Miami and Boston. The FBI had placed an electronic listening device - commonly referred to as a bug - to record Katz conversations. They attached the bug to the exterior wall of the phone booth. Based on the evidence that the recordings provided, Katz was charged and convicted. Katz argued that the recordings violated his fourth amendment rights. The previous court sided with the FBI, and claimed that because there was no physical intrusion into the phone booth itself, Katz rights had not been violated. The Supreme Court came to the decision that the FBI did violate Katz’s fourth amendment rights. Their reasoning was that anyone who steps into a phone booth, closes the door, and deposits the payment for the call, has a reasonable expectation of privacy. The phone booth user should not be worried that their conversation would be broadcast to the

More about Summary: Fremont Weeks V. United States

Open Document