I wonder how you would value the damages? If a violating search results in a conviction, what was that privacy worth to the defendant? (Better, how much would the government be willing to pay?)

http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=26629

Originalism and Civil Damages for Fourth Amendment Violations

January 4, 2012 by Dissent

One of my favorite deep thinkers, Yogi Berra, once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you may wind up someplace else.”

With that in mind, I recommend reading Orin Kerr’s commentary on the history of civil damages for violations of search and seizure protections. If, like me, you are not a lawyer nor constitutional scholar, you may be surprised to learn that back in the day, if evidence was obtained illegally, the remedy was not to exclude it but to admit it and apply civil remedies on the violators. Orin introduces the question:

Originalists are often opposed to the exclusionary rule, the rule that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment cannot be used in court. The exclusionary rule was made up by 19th and 20th century judges, the argument runs. At common law, the remedies for violations of search and seizure law were civil damages against the officers, not exclusion of evidence. Because the Fourth Amendment is widely recognized to have adopted and endorsed those cases, such as Entick v. Carrington (1765), the exclusionary rule must be abolished. It simply is not part of the original Fourth Amendment remedies observed in cases like Entick.

I’m not entirely sure that’s correct, but let’s assume it is. Here’s my question: If you’re an originalist, does that mean that you think the Constitution guarantees the civil remedies that existed at common law for search and seizure violations? Put another way, can modern judges change the civil remedies that were available at common law for constitutional violations? Or is there a civil remedies scheme that must be available under an originalist understanding of the Fourth Amendment?

Read more on The Volokh Conspiracy.

Of course, there are those of us who might want both the exclusionary rule and civil penalties for egregious breaches of our rights to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. Many of us – ignorant of the full history of court decisions on the issue – interpret the language of the Fourth Amendment to mean that any search or seizure conducted without a warrant is inherently unreasonable and that the courts have meandered off the reservation by permitting what we consider erosions of what we would maintain are Fourth Amendment protections. We have urged Congress to update ECPA to recognize that government requests for our information should require a probable cause standard or judicial oversight. But as Orin points out, if you’re an originalist, then do you have to argue that government “transgressions” should not result in exclusion of any evidence improperly obtained and that a civil remedy scheme must be available? His commentary is certainly thought-provoking.

We’ve traveled a long road since the Fourth Amendment became one of our core protections. As the Supreme Court grapples with Jones and the use of warrantless GPS surveillance and considers whether to take on the question of whether a drug-sniffing dog on your porch is a search under the Fourth Amendment, we might all be wise to ask, “Do we know where we’re going?”

Perhaps this was not the best way to do this?

Teachers Resist High-tech Push In Idaho Schools

"This morning's NY Times highlights the issue of learning in our public schools and the proper role of technology. The Idaho governor and his state school superintendent are advocating a legislative bill for a massive infusion of computers and on-line technology in schools and is meeting resistance from state teachers, particularly the part of the bill that requires high school students to take online courses for two of their 47 graduation credits. Superintendent Luna is quoted as saying, the computer 'becomes the textbook for every class, the research device, the advanced math calculator, the word processor and the portal to a world of information.' The article notes that the governor had received campaign contributions from technology companies and that Apple and Intel had played a part in drafting the bill."

[Is this why they are upset?

To help pay for these programs, the state may have to shift tens of millions of dollars away from salaries for teachers and administrators.

Is the government learning about large data centers from the Cloud providers or are they just cutting funding? i.e. Do they have a plan?

Feds Now Plans To Close 1,200 Data Centers

"The U.S. government now expects to shutter at least 1,200 data centers by the end of 2015 in its data center consolidation project. That's about 40 percent of the IT facilities identified in the latest update from federal CIO Steven VanRoekel. The number of government data centers has grown steadily — jumping from 1,100 to 2,094 and now to 3,133 — as the Obama administration has identified more facilities than expected, and expanded the initiative to target telecom closets. The CIO's office says it is on track to close 525 facilities by the end of this year, and has published a list of data centers targeted for closure."

For my Math students (zipdecode is interesting by itself)

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/the-fractal-dimension-of-zip-codes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

The Fractal Dimension of ZIP Codes

… One quick way to look at ZIP codes is by seeing how each part of a ZIP code defines a part of our country. Ben Fry, of Fathom, created a simple visualization called zipdecode to do just this.

… using the wonderful images created by Robert Kosara called ZIPScribbles, which connect the coordinates of sequential ZIP codes (02445 is connected to 02446, 02446 is connected to 02447, and so forth). As you can see below, there is a geographically hierarchical nature to it. ZIP codes divide the population first into states, and then divide into little scribble regions even further, in a self-similar fashion.

So, I set out to measure the fractal nature of the ZIP code system. I used one of the simplest methods, called the box-counting method, which estimates the self-similarity of a shape by looking to see how many boxes in a series of ever-smaller grids are required to cover a shape. Doing this, I was able to calculate the fractal dimension of the ZIP Code system, using the ZIPScribble: 1.78.

(Related) For me!

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/welcome-to-social-dimension/

Welcome to Social Dimension

Welcome to Social Dimension, a blog devoted to the math behind understanding society and civilization. Mathematics can be used to understand all aspects of our society: sports, movies, history, and even how ideas spread around the world. From the highbrow, such as the evolution of ancient manuscripts, to the somewhat lower brow, such as the social networks of superheroes, our society is suffused with topics than can be understood using math.

An alternative to the simple class handout?

Themeefy: Create & Share Customized Magazines Online

Themeefy is a wonderful web service that lets you create online magazines. After creating an account on the site you can sign into the service and drag its bookmarklet to your browser bookmarks toolbar. Through this bookmarklet you can add any webpage to your online magazine by a single mouse click. You can also upload your own images, take notes, and personalize your magazine in numerous ways. With all this done you can begin sharing the magazine with friends on various social networks. [Also share the link directly Bob]

www.themeefy.com

Similar tools: OpenZine, MagMe and YouTellYou.