Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Foreign intelligence surveillance

Despite the foregoing citation the Fourth Amendment prohibitions against unreasonable searches and seizures nonetheless apply to the contents of all communications, whatever the means, because, "a person's private communications are akin to personal papers." Fourth Amendment reasonableness is the point at which the United States government's interest advanced by a particular search or seizure outweighs the loss of individual privacy or freedom of movement that attends the government's action. The United Supreme Court said in Board of Education v. Earls (2002) when 'special needs', beyond the normal need for law enforcement, make the warrant and probable-cause requirement impracticable the reasonableness of a search is determined by balancing the nature of the intrusion on the individual's privacy against the promotion of legitimate governmental interests. Additionally in Illinois v. Lidster (2004) the Court explained in judging reasonableness it looks to "the gravity of the public concerns served by the seizure, the degree to which the seizure advances the public interest, and the severity of the interference with individual liberty". To protect the telecommunications carriers cooperating with the U.S. government from legal action, the Congress passed a bill updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to permit this type of surveillance.
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