Digital Surveillance

Digital surveillance is the collection of information about people through phones, cameras, internet activity, location data, and other electronic tools. Both government agencies and private companies do this, and the information can end up in the hands of police, immigration officers, and intelligence services. Courts, Congress, and the Fourth Amendment set the main limits.

Readers come to this topic with questions about when the government may track a phone, use facial recognition, or demand data from a company. They want to understand what a warrant is, when one is needed, and how privacy protections apply to technology that did not exist when the Constitution was written.