The reason we cannot agree is because you refuse to acknowledge the direction of action. There is a difference if you report to the cops and if the cops come to you and ask you to report. These are completely different. You taking action: okay. Cops taking action: needs due process. Full stop.

> The 4th is about preventing the government from abusing their power to compel.

Let's get the 4th in here to so we actually read it and not from memory

> The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The 4th is in part about government abusing its power, and that's true for all amendments. But it is clear that the 4th is about protecting information. I do not think it is hard to read as "The government is not allowed to collect information on people without warrants and without due probable cause." It clearly has a legal setting for this given that it is what is cited to prohibit wiretapping[0] and I'll even quote Justice Potter[1]

> For the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places. What a person knowingly exposes to
the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection.
But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be
constitutionally protected.

Note that the stress here is on intention to have public and intention to have private. You are protected even if in the public but intending to be private. Surely Potter would believe that were one to walk to a secluded area to hold a phone conversation and the government followed to secretly listen in, that this would be within the protection of the 4th Amendment. Many people incorrectly assume that you cannot have a reasonable expectation of privacy out in public. You sure can and everyone does it. Bathrooms are an uncontestable example.

> Like a wanted poster and a bounty for information?

The government cannot print wanted posters without due process. Yes, I have no problem with this. The due process part is essential.

> The example I gave was a practical illustration of how silly reality would be if third-party-doctrine wasn't a thing.

There is a huge difference between someone coming to the government out of their own free will -- someone who is not under duress nor are they incentivized by payment -- than the government making a request. Action is important. The government here is making an explicit action to seek and gather information. Obviously I do not object to someone reporting a crime and I should not need repeat myself any further.

There's a reason this is different and you need to stop pigeonholing me into a completely irrelevant argument. Here's how this can be abused. The government (or "friend") creates a private corporation. Private corporation does everything that the government cannot do without getting a warrant. Private corporation then gives the information to gov. How is this not a loophole?

That's the thing. The government is __seeking__ information that it would normally require a warrant to obtain. Were companies to freely offer this information to the government, then that's a completely different scenario and precisely the one you keep arguing which no one disagrees with. But if the government takes action to elicit that information, (aka ACTION) then that is not the same thing as information volunteered.

[0] https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fourth_amendment

[1] https://www.nmid.uscourts.gov/documents/civicscontest/2019/b...