Discovery and invention have made it possible for the government, by means far more effective than stretching upon the rack, to obtain disclosure in court of what is whispered in the closet. The progress of science in furnishing the government with means of espionage is not likely to stop with wire tapping. Whenever a telephone line is tapped, the privacy of the persons at both ends of the line is invaded, and all conversations between them upon any subject, and although proper, confidential and privileged, may be overheard. Moreover, the tapping of one man's telephone line involves the tapping of the telephone of every other person whom he may call, or who may call him. Almost forty years later, Brandeis's dissent underlay the Supreme Court opinion overruling Olmstead.
Privacy rights are one of the individual's most potent defenses against the state.
Privacy rights of the individual are embedded in the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. They are embedded in the Katz decision. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. Citizens of the former East Bloc countries testify to the corruption of society that resulted from a loss of privacy. The United States is a very different nation, with a very different history.