You've Got Mail FBI Hacking in United States v Lough and Why It Is a Fourth Amendment Search
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YOU'VE GOT MAIL: FBI HACKING IN UNITED STATES v. LOUGH AND
WHY IT IS A FOURTH AMENDMENT SEARCH
RYAN DIETER*
[This] can lead to large-scale privacy and civil liberties abuses at home
and abroad.
I. PLUGGING IN: REVISITING THE DEBATE BETWEEN SECURITY AND PRIVACY
The Inland Regional Center is a facility for those with developmental
disabilities.2 Until December 2, 2015, most people had never heard of the San
Bernardino facility, but on that date, it became the infamous location of one of
the most memorable and devastating terrorist attacks on American soil.3 The
shooters, Syed Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, killed fourteen people and
wounded twenty-two others.4 Perhaps even more well-known than the actual
attack was the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) extremely public battle
with Apple over access to Farook's iPhone.
After seizing the smartphone, the FBI realized that Farook had secured the
* J.D. Candidate, 2019, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law; B.A.
2016, The Pennsylvania State University. This Note is dedicated to my family, friends, and
all those who have supported me throughout my life. I would also like to extend a special
thanks to everyone on the Villanova Law Review for all of their contributions.
1. See Ellen Nakashima, This Is How the Government Is Catching People Who Use
Child Porn Sites, WASH. POST (Jan. 21, 2016),
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/how-the-govemment-is-using-
malware-to-ensnare-child-pom-users/20 16/01/2 1/fb8ab5f8-becO-1 le5 -83 d4-
42e3bceea9o2_story.html?utm-tern-.aa634855ecle [https://penna.cc/HZ8S-7DRY] (quoting
Ahmed Ghappour, professor at University of California's Hastings College of the Law).
2. See Mark Schone et al., San Bernardino Shooting: What Is the Inland Regional
Center?, NBC NEWS (Dec. 2, 2015), https://www.nbcnews.com/sToryline/san-bemardino-
shooting/san-bernardino -shooting-what-inland-regional-center-n4730 16
[https://perma.cc/TWT8-NHDH] (The site of a deadly mass shooting in San Bernardino,
California ... had just held a holiday party a day before the shots rang out.).
3. See Win. Robert Johnston, Terrorist Attacks and Related Incidents in the United
States, JOHNSTON'S ARCHIVE, http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/terrorism/wrjp255a.html
[https://perma.cc/CHK2-L8VE] (last visited Mar. 24, 2018) (providing compilation of all
incidents of terror in the United States since 1865); Everything We Know About the San
Bernardino Terror Attack Investigation, THE SUN (Nov. 27, 2016, 04:05 PM),
http://www.sbsun.com/2016/11/27/everything-we-know-about-the-san-bemardino-terror-
attack-investigation/ [https://perma.cc/5PYX-3C94] [hereinafter Everything We Know] (The
Dec. 2 shooting at the Inland Regional Center ... saw a massive response from law
enforcement agencies from throughout the region, along with the FBI.).
4. See Everything We Know, supra note 3 ([The shooters] died in a gunfight with law
enforcement ... about five hours after the massacre.). Farook was a United States citizen,
but his wife came to the country in 2014. See id. The only evidence of their radical views
was a Facebook statement in support of terrorist organization Islamic State around the time
of the shootings. See id. The couple had drawn a flat line with only a violent spike at the
end for investigators to pick apart. Id.
5. See id. (stating FBI seized pipe bombs, bomb-making materials and thousands of
rounds of ammunition during a warranted search of the shooters' home). The cellphone was
found in Farook's mother's vehicle. See id.
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You've Got Mail FBI Hacking in United States v Lough and Why It Is a Fourth Amendment Search
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