Fourth Amendment & Privacy Laws Flashcards
7 cards from real CST practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Fourth Amendment & Privacy Laws flashcards as text
Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which type of surveillance requires law enforcement to obtain a Title III wiretap order?
Answer: Real-time interception of wire or electronic communications
Title III of ECPA requires a court order (wiretap order) for the real-time interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications.
The 'good faith' exception to the exclusionary rule, established in United States v. Leon, allows evidence to be admitted when:
Answer: Officers reasonably relied on a warrant later found to be defective
The good faith exception permits admission of evidence when officers acted in reasonable reliance on a warrant that is subsequently invalidated.
Which doctrine holds that information voluntarily shared with a third party (e.g., a bank or phone company) loses Fourth Amendment protection?
Answer: Third-party doctrine
The third-party doctrine holds that individuals have no reasonable expectation of privacy in information voluntarily shared with third parties.
A surveillance technician installs a camera that captures the interior of a private home through an open window from a public sidewalk. Under Fourth Amendment analysis, this is:
Answer: A violation because the home's interior is protected space
Even from a public vantage point, capturing the interior of a home where occupants have a reasonable expectation of privacy can constitute a Fourth Amendment violation.
The Stored Communications Act (SCA), part of ECPA, governs access to:
Answer: Emails and other communications stored by electronic service providers
The SCA protects the privacy of stored wire and electronic communications held by third-party service providers such as email hosts.
In Kyllo v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that using thermal imaging to detect heat inside a home without a warrant violates the Fourth Amendment because:
Answer: The technology revealed details of the home interior not otherwise visible
Kyllo held that using sense-enhancing technology to gather information about a home's interior that could not be obtained without physical entry constitutes a search.
Which standard must law enforcement meet to obtain a pen register order (capturing numbers dialed, not call content)?
Answer: Certification that the information is relevant to an ongoing investigation
A pen register order requires only a certification that the information is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation, a lower bar than probable cause.