Text Messaging, Privacy, and Common Sense

Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

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.

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals: Quon et al. v. Arch Wireless et al. (PDF)

This case arises from the Ontario Police Department's review of text messages sent and received by Jeff Quon, a Sergeant and member of the City of Ontario's SWAT team. We must decide whether (1) Arch Wireless Operating Company Inc., the company with whom the City contracted for text messaging services, violated the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2711 (1986); and (2) whether the City, the Police Department, and Ontario Police Chief Lloyd Scharf violated Quon's rights and the rights of those with whom he "texted"—Sergeant Steve Trujillo, Dispatcher April Florio, and his wife Jerilyn Quon—under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 1 of the California Constitution.

The search of Appellants' text messages violated their Fourth Amendment and California constitutional privacy rights because they had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the content of the text messages, and the search was unreasonable in scope.

City of Ontario v. Quon—SCOTUS Wiki

Issues: (1) Whether a SWAT team member has a reasonable expectation of privacy in text messages transmitted on his SWAT pager, where the police department has an official no-privacy policy but a non-policymaking lieutenant announced an informal policy of allowing some personal use of the pagers; (2) Whether individuals who send text messages to a SWAT team member’s SWAT pager have a reasonable expectation that their messages will be free from review by the recipient’s government employer.

Decision: Reversed and remanded in a 9-0 decision….

U.S. Supreme Court: City of Ontario, California, et al. v. Quon et al. (PDF)

Held: Because the search of Quon's text messages was reasonable, petitioners did not violate respondents' Fourth Amendment rights, and the Ninth Circuit erred by concluding otherwise.

1. The Amendment guarantees a person's privacy, dignity, and security against arbitrary and invasive governmental acts, without regard to whether the government actor is investigating crime or performing another function. It applies as well when the government acts in its capacity as an employer.
2. Even assuming that Quon had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his text messages, the search was reasonable[.]

529 F. 3d 892, reversed and remanded.

No reasonable expectation of privacy, reasonable search, and common sense…