Katz v. United States (1967) contributed to privacy law by:

• A. Created privacy rights to digital data.
• B. Narrowed privacy protections in public spaces.
• C. Expanded the concept of a reasonable expectation of privacy to include electronic surveillance and conversations.
• D. Established privacy rights in commercial advertising.

Answer: (C)

The key idea is that the Fourth Amendment protects privacy not just in places, but in the content of what a person says or does. Katz v. United States established that government surveillance of a private conversation can be a search, even when there isn’t a physical trespass or entry. The Court introduced a two-part test for whether there’s a reasonable expectation of privacy: you must have an actual expectation of privacy, and society must recognize that expectation as reasonable. In this case, Katz had a private conversation inside a public phone booth, and the government’s listening device outside the booth violated that privacy expectation. Because the government targeted the content of the conversation with electronic surveillance, the seizure required a warrant. This broadens Fourth Amendment protections to cover electronic eavesdropping and conversations, not just physical searches in traditionally private spaces. It also clarifies that privacy rights are about people and their reasonable expectations, not merely about where they are located.