ABSTRACT
The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution seeks to protect "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." Originally understood to include the physical intrusion upon a private residence in the pursuit of evidence, the term "search" has been expanded to include any breach of an individual's reasonable expectation of privacy. Early jurisprudence concerning the meaning of a search drew heavily from the common law understanding of trespassing. The Government's activities in electronically listening to and recording the petitioner's words violated the privacy upon which he justifiably relied while using the telephone booth and thus constituted a 'search and seizure' within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Courts were eventually forced to reexamine the meaning of a search in light of important technological innovations. By the early twentieth century, it was possible for the first time to monitor ostensibly private behavior without setting foot on traditionally protected space.
