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51 Stetson L. Rev. 69 (2021-2022)
Smart Home Data Privacy and an Evolving Fourth Amendment

handle is hein.journals/stet51 and id is 75 raw text is: SMART HOME DATA PRIVACY AND AN EVOLVING FOURTH AMENDMENT Dr. Laurie Thomas Lee* When Timothy Verrill was accused of first-degree murder of two women at a home in New Hampshire, prosecutors believed that recordings of the attack were captured on the man's Amazon Echo smart speaker.1 Amazon refused to release the customer information without a warrant,2 but a judge ruled that the New Hampshire authorities could indeed examine the recordings that reside on Amazon's server.3 This case, among others, raises serious questions about privacy in a new era of smarthomes, where smart in-home devices collect a wealth of data about a home's occupants and now provide a fruitful investigative tool for law enforcement. Smart home devices, such as smart TVs, refrigerators, robotic vacuums, security systems, thermostats, video doorbells, health sensors, lighting systems, automated window blinds, and more, are quickly becoming an integral part of the modern, internet-connected home.4 Yet these smart technologies generate an unprecedented amount of personal data from within the homes, producing highly detailed and intimate accounts of peoples' lives that are often captured and stored by their service providers.5 Some voice-activated devices, such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home, may even record background conversations while activated, unbeknownst to their owners.6 The exposure of these communications and data to law enforcement and others has been characterized as the tip of the * © 2021, Dr. Laurie Thomas Lee. All rights reserved. Professor, University of Nebraska- Lincoln, College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Ph.D. in Mass Media from Michigan State University. Dr. Lee teaches courses in media law and ethics and is a co-author of Communications Law: Practical Applications in the Digital Age, 3rd ed. 1. Kathleen McKiernan, Alexa Served: Privacy Concerns Echoed in New Hampshire Case, BoS. HERALD (Nov. 11, 2018, 12:00 AM), https://www.bostonherald.com/2018/11/11/alexa-served- privacy-concerns-echoed-in-new-hampshire-case/. 2. Id. 3. Id. 4. Rachel Segal, Are Smart Homes aSmartIdea?,PERSP.,https://www.theperspective.com /debates/businessandtechnology/smart-homes-smart-idea/ (last updated 2020). 5. Id. 6. McKiernan, supra note 1.

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