Privacy

Telemarketing

Although telemarketing is often narrowly defined as marketing by telephone, it is used here in a broader context to include any form of unsolicited selling message targeted at individual consumers from a distance. Telemarketing includes direct mail, telephone marketing, commercial electronic mail (i.e., “spam”), and messages sent to cellular telephones, facsimile machines, and computer screens. […]

Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968)

Terry v. Ohio was a landmark Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled there was no violation of Fourth Amendment privacy rights in allowing police officers to stop and “pat down” persons on the street when the officers have reason to believe they may be dealing with “armed and dangerous” persons. The officer “need […]

Thermal sensors

A thermal-imaging device, often called a FLIR (forward-looking infrared radar), is used to detect activity and movement via heat patterns on the surface of a selected target by identifying temperature differentials. The device provides a visual image of objects that are warmer or cooler than the baseline. A thermal imager is capable of locating a […]

Time, Inc. v. Hill, 385 U.S. 374 (1967)

On September 11 and 12, 1952, three escaped convicts held James Hill, his wife, and their five children hostage for 19 hours in their home in Whitemarsh, Pennsyl-vania. The convicts were subsequently involved in a highly publicized encounter with the police, and two of the three convicts were killed. The Hill family quickly became front-page […]

Stop and frisk

Despite Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, police officers may stop pedestrians and subject them to a “pat-down search” without a search warrant under certain circumstances. The process has come to be called a “stop and frisk.” The landmark case approving a stop and frisk search was Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 […]

Strip search

A strip search is a search of an individual by a law enforcement officer or other agent of government that requires the rearrangement or—more commonly— removal of some or all of the person’s clothing to permit the visual inspection of the body, especially the private parts—the genitals, anus, and breasts—for weapons, illegal goods (contraband), or […]

Surveillance

Perhaps it is fitting that the topic of surveillance, so shrouded in intrigue, is often ambiguous and misunderstood. One error involves the common tendency to see surveillance as the opposite of privacy. Another is to associate it only with government and with law and order activities in particular. Privacy and surveillance can be interwoven. Viewed […]

Surveillance cameras

Surveillance cameras are ubiquitous. The use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) to monitor locations around the world has exploded during the last decade. The United Kingdom (UK) leads the world in the deployment of CCTV technology in public spaces. According to researchers, the number of surveillance cameras in private premises in London alone is estimated to […]

Télécommunication Act of 1996

The U.S. Congress passed the Télécommunication Act of 1996 on February 1, 1996. The act rewrote the Communications Act of 1934 and aimed to foster fair competition by deregulating the telecommunication industry. Section 222 of the act, entitled “Privacy of Customer Information,” states that telephone carriers have an obligation to protect the confidentiality of information […]

Spam

Spam refers to unsolicited or unwanted electronic mail, usually sent in large quantities and consisting of commercial advertisements. Spam has been described as “the scourge of the Information Age.” The vast majority of e-mail sent today is spam, although much of it is diverted before delivery. Spam is generally viewed as objectionable because of its […]

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