HIS 1100-02: US History Pre-Colonial – Civil War
4/11/2025
Topic: The Fourth Amendment in the Digital Age
To protect personal information in the digital era, this paper proposes an amendment to
the U.S. Constitution that extends Fourth Amendment protections to digital data and
, communication. This ensures the protection of peoples’ communication data, and no one,
including the government, will have access to the data without a warrant. Additionally, Congress
shall pass laws that will ensure people’s data are not accessed by private organizations without
informed consent. Therefore, there needs to be an inclusion of the section; no entity, public or
private, shall collect, store, or share personal digital data without the informed consent of the
individual concerned.
This amendment is a good step in the update of the Fourth Amendment to include digital
data and communication protection. The need for a search warrant before conducting a search on
digital data and communication is as important as it is with physical data search. Additionally, as
modern society becomes increasingly dependent on digital platforms, the need to safeguard
personal information has never been more urgent (Castillo, 2018, p. 9). Therefore, Congress has
to take into consideration the importance of protecting individual digital data and communication
to address the modern concerns about surveillance and data privacy.
Modern society needs this amendment to protect and safeguard individuals’ data. Many
digital platform users are subjected to threats, manipulation, and blackmail over their use of
social platforms. As a result, there is a need to control and protect individuals’ data. As Doe
explains, from data breaches to targeted social media controls and manipulation, the absence of
clear constitutional protections has had profound implications (Doe, 2024, p. 207). This
amendment is therefore seen as a way of bringing balance between digital platforms use and
human rights.
In the 1970s, however, there was no internet connection or digital communication
platforms thus, the planners of the constitution never knew the importance of protecting citizens
from unauthorized access to their private data. However, the Fourth Amendment protects citizens
4/11/2025
Topic: The Fourth Amendment in the Digital Age
To protect personal information in the digital era, this paper proposes an amendment to
the U.S. Constitution that extends Fourth Amendment protections to digital data and
, communication. This ensures the protection of peoples’ communication data, and no one,
including the government, will have access to the data without a warrant. Additionally, Congress
shall pass laws that will ensure people’s data are not accessed by private organizations without
informed consent. Therefore, there needs to be an inclusion of the section; no entity, public or
private, shall collect, store, or share personal digital data without the informed consent of the
individual concerned.
This amendment is a good step in the update of the Fourth Amendment to include digital
data and communication protection. The need for a search warrant before conducting a search on
digital data and communication is as important as it is with physical data search. Additionally, as
modern society becomes increasingly dependent on digital platforms, the need to safeguard
personal information has never been more urgent (Castillo, 2018, p. 9). Therefore, Congress has
to take into consideration the importance of protecting individual digital data and communication
to address the modern concerns about surveillance and data privacy.
Modern society needs this amendment to protect and safeguard individuals’ data. Many
digital platform users are subjected to threats, manipulation, and blackmail over their use of
social platforms. As a result, there is a need to control and protect individuals’ data. As Doe
explains, from data breaches to targeted social media controls and manipulation, the absence of
clear constitutional protections has had profound implications (Doe, 2024, p. 207). This
amendment is therefore seen as a way of bringing balance between digital platforms use and
human rights.
In the 1970s, however, there was no internet connection or digital communication
platforms thus, the planners of the constitution never knew the importance of protecting citizens
from unauthorized access to their private data. However, the Fourth Amendment protects citizens
