Re: Already Opened Mail

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On 1/25/08, Anon wrote:
> Once Mail is opened and thrown in the garbage can, is it
> illegal for someone else to look at it? or by throwing it
> in a public garbage can have you surrendered your rights
> to the mail?

It depends on how a State court interprets their
Constitution. A few states do hold that there is a privacy
interest in your trash if it is in a bag to be picked up.
However, 90% or more of states and the federal government
find no privacy interest in trash so you need to know where
your state stands on that issue to understand your rights.

Those states that do hold there is a privacy interest in
trash, only apply their ruling to government searches. If a
citizen searches your trash they may be guilty of simple
trespass but any evidence they find can be turned over to
police and if the citizen was not acting as an "instrument
of the government," that evidence will probably not be
excluded from use in a trial.

There is a growing feeling that a privacy interest should
attach to personal trash that is intended for disposal and
in a bag.
One court put it this way:

"In light of the facts in these cases,
we believe defendants' expectations of
privacy are ones society is prepared
to recognize. People reasonably believe
that police will not indiscriminately
rummage through their trash bags to discover
their personal effects. Business records, bills,
correspondence, magazines, tax records, and
other telltale refuse can reveal much about
a person's activities, associations, and
beliefs. If we were to hold otherwise,
police could search everyone's trash bags
on their property without any reason and
thereby learn of their activities,
associations, and beliefs. It is exactly
this type of overbroad governmental intrusion
that article I, § 7 of the State Constitution
was intended to prevent."