Do Americans have privacy rights?

[Lamb]

I read a headline but not the article, where cops in NY were going to use drones to spy on people during Labor Day weekend. Do we have any privacy rights?

 

[Jazzy]

There is a serious question about whether of not privacy is a right and to what extent it is a right. In the US the word privacy does not appear anywhere in the Constitution. The right was “found” there in the case of Griswold vs. Connecticut. Since privacy is clearly not an enumerated right, it is treated as a lesser right in relation to the enumerated rights. The right of privacy is frequently interpreted as the right to be left alone. If you intentionally expose yourself on the Internet, have you waived your right to privacy?

 

[Albion]

I read a headline but not the article, where cops in NY were going to use drones to spy on people during Labor Day weekend. Do we have any privacy rights?

I suppose that it depends on what kind of supervision is involved. If police drones are just used to observe large gatherings in public such as are common on Labor Day, I wouldn't think that it involves any invasion of privacy since officers on the ground level keeping watch have long been used to do the exact same thing.

 

[tango]

I read a headline but not the article, where cops in NY were going to use drones to spy on people during Labor Day weekend. Do we have any privacy rights?

You're not allowed to shoot down drones but if you keep large birds of prey apparently they have been known to take out drones.

 

[Stravinsk]

I look at it this way. I don't think it's ethical to spy on me when I'm in a private place, such as my home. I don't care what any law on paper says. It's not ethical.

So if someone were to do it (say, using a drone), I'd have 0 ethical problem using an illegal wi-fi/other signal jammer to interrupt the communications and/or operation of the drone.

 

[tango]

I look at it this way. I don't think it's ethical to spy on me when I'm in a private place, such as my home. I don't care what any law on paper says. It's not ethical.

So if someone were to do it (say, using a drone), I'd have 0 ethical problem using an illegal wi-fi/other signal jammer to interrupt the communications and/or operation of the drone.

Interesting thought. It would be a shame if an errant drone crashed in the yard close enough in front of the mower that it got mangled. Or if the dog thought it was a new toy and chewed on it, before dumping it in the trees at the end of the yard. Or if the kids found it and tried playing catch with it.

The person flying it might figure out where it was, but if they want to make a complaint about its fate they might want to figure a reason why it ended up in my yard in the first place, as well as why it's somehow unreasonable for kids to play with something they found in their yard.