Postings such as “Keep Out” and “Private Property” enkindle within me an almost irresistible urge to trespass, even if there is not purpose to it. This is partly, I suppose, my contrarianism, but more a recognition that such proclamations are fundamentally futile. We don’t own anything; at best we borrow it for a bit.
To their credit, the floundering fathers avoided any general proclamation on privacy in framing the Constitution and its Amendments. They may have recognized that the subject is too contentious to be codified, relying on common law to identify changing circumstances and attitudes. This has not discourage....