Learn when the government can invade your privacy to hunt for evidence of a crime. These limits are the bedrock of search and seizure law. Search and seizure law is constantly in flux and so complex that entire books are devoted to it. This article covers the basic issues that you should know, beginning with an overview of the Fourth Amendment itself. The search and seizure provisions of the Fourth Amendment are all about privacy.
Most people instinctively understand the concept of privacy.
It is the freedom to decide which details of your life will be revealed to the public and which will be revealed only to those you care to share them with. The flip side is that the Fourth Amendment does permit searches and seizures that are considered reasonable. What They Are and When They're Necessary . But before getting to the question of whether or not a particular search is reasonable, and therefore valid under the Fourth Amendment, it must be determined whether the Fourth Amendment applies to the search in the first place. If not, the Fourth Amendment offers no protection because there are, by definition, no privacy issues.