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The 4th Amendment And The Fourth Amendment

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The US Constitution is a living document. The founding fathers intended on keeping the Constitution updated and current for all future generations to live by. Within the US Constitution, Congress passed the Fourth Amendment in 1789 to protect people from unreasonable search and seizure by the government. In the 21st century, the use of computer and mobile devices has expanded at an exponential rate and has left many grey areas. The purpose of this paper is to explore the Fourth Amendment as it pertains to data encryption on mobile devices, and to discuss whether the government has the constitutional or legal right to compel a company to produce a method of defeating the encryption. This research found that currently there is no conclusion to this constitutionally sensitive topic of data encryption and the Fourth Amendment. The United States government does not have any safeguards in place for a backdoor to encryption; and therefore there is no due process to govern the use of such a tool or the handling of the retrieved information. Unfortunately, through this research many examples have come to light that shows that the United States government has recurrently impinged on citizens’ privacy during operations, even though it is obligated to protect said privacy. This inconsistency has created a level of animosity between the government and the citizens. This research recommends the creation and ratification of encryption laws that would lay out the boundaries and rules of

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