The Fourth Amendment and emerging communications technologies

The US Constitution's Fourth Amendment and emerging communications technological developments have strained the prevailing legal framework to highlight areas of reform. The Fourth Amendment prohibits government agents from conducting searches without a warrant and also applies to the surveillance of electronic communications that involve the acquisition of 'transactional' data such as destination information associated with a particular communication. Judicial decisions reveal a great deal of pressure on the statutory framework at the intersection of the Wiretap Act and the Stored Communications Act, which has tremendous legal significance to trivial choices about how to construct and use an email system. The pen/trap statute was also implemented for use of particular devices and focuses exclusively on telephone numbers. In case of electronic communications, law enforcement officials can also compel a service provider to produce copies of electronic communications stored on its systems.