Comment by Simulacra
8 years ago
"Yes, this code the government forces into our printers is a violation of our 3rd Amendment rights"
FYI: The 3rd Amendment reads as follows:
"No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law."
I don't see the connection. Why does this violate our 3rd amendment rights?
One could argue that the "spirit" of the 3rd Amendment is that the government cannot compel you to use your own resources for their benefit on an ongoing basis. It's a stretch, but possibly no more so than other interpretations of the Constitution that courts have made.
Good point, but in this case I don't know if it's quite reaching the level of compelling. Maybe co-opting? I imagine the government uses us in many, many ways for their own gain that we may not know of. Perhaps a better connection might be the 1st Amendments implied right to freedom of association.
Probably Griswold v. Connecticut, which established the derived right to privacy. Justice Douglas cited the Third Amendment (among others) as implying the right to keep one's home free from agents of the state.
That said, this pretty obviously isn't a clear Third Amendment violation. There's virtually no caselaw around the 3rd, and what there is has held it pretty narrowly. The only successful Third Amendment defense I know of was Engblom v. Carey, which was about evicting prison guards to give their housing to National Guard troops.
So - I think they meant "right to privacy", but the 3rd is one of the smallest and least-cited components of that right.
See, a monad is like a soldier...