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Are Instant Messages Discoverable?

By Gregory S. McCurdy and Martha J. Dawson
July 01, 2004

In 1984, George Orwell wrote of a society in which technology was used to control and monitor social behavior ' “Big Brother is watching you.”

Big Brother technology is no longer the realm of science fiction. Whether we actually use technology in this fashion, however, is the important question that policymakers and judges will have to answer. Indeed, the technology to digitally record virtually everything we do and say is well on its way to being pervasive and less and less expensive. PCs often have Webcams and microphones, and personal digital assistants and cell phones have audio recording capabilities and many have cameras.

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