Chris Slobogin on Virtual Searches
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 19 December 2022
⏱️ 56 minutes
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Summary
When we think about government surveillance, we often imagine something physical, like a police officer executing a search warrant on a house or car. But increasingly, government surveillance, including the everyday work of police departments across the country, involves remote electronic monitoring or the analysis of massive amounts of digital information.
A leading analyst of this transformation and of the implications it has for our privacy and security is Chris Slobogin, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School and one of the leading scholars of the digital Fourth Amendment. Lawfare senior editor Alan Rozenshtein sat down with Chris to discuss his new book, “Virtual Searches: Regulating the Covert World of Technological Policing,” in which Chris explains how the traditional legal framework for surveillance is out of date and what should take its place. Alan and Chris talk about the importance of taking a more flexible approach to what makes a search reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, and why it's so important for legislatures to pre-authorize any police surveillance techniques.
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Transcript
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| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:29.0 | If what the police are trying to do is prevent a serious crime, |
| 0:39.0 | then I think it's permissible to lower the justification level. |
| 0:42.0 | This is something that's recognized throughout our jurisprudence. |
| 0:45.0 | That when prevention is the focus, we allow the government more leeway. |
| 0:52.0 | We recognize that in civil commitment statutes, we recognize it in Terry, |
| 0:56.0 | when another justification material is preventive technique. |
| 1:00.0 | On the other hand, when it's a completed crime, the goal of the police is not to prevent a serious act, |
| 1:06.0 | but rather to solve a serious crime. |
| 1:09.0 | We do not differentiate based on crime. |
| 1:12.0 | Prosecuting has to prove crime is committed beyond reasonable doubt, |
| 1:15.0 | whether it's a misdemeanor, or the worst crime ever imaginable. |
| 1:19.0 | It's always proved beyond reasonable doubt. |
| 1:21.0 | I'm Alan Rosenstein, and this is the LawFair podcast, December 19, 2022. |
| 1:28.0 | When we think about government surveillance, we often imagine something physical, |
| 1:33.0 | a police officer executing a search warrant on a house or car. |
| 1:37.0 | But increasingly, government surveillance, including the everyday work of police departments across the country, |
... |
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