As the law stands today, law enforcement for the most part, cannot use enhanced method to gain information that would otherwise have been private. This would be a violation of a one\u2019s legitimate expectation of privacy. Law enforcement can use technology to see or hear information that is public.<\/p>\n
There have been cases that address this issue. For example, Kyllo v. United States<\/em>, law enforcement used a thermal-imaging technology to detect heat from the home. They wanted to know if the defendant was growing marijuana. As a result from the surveillance, the officers figured that the defendant was using heat lamps to grow marijuana. The Court stated that \u201cobtaining by sense-enhancing technology any information regarding the interior of the home that could not otherwise have been obtained without physical intrusion into a constitutionally protected area constitutes a search\u2014at least where (as here) the technology in question is not in general public use.\u201d Kyllo v. United States<\/em>, 533 U.S. 27,33 (2001). So technology such as a thermal-imaging device cannot be used to detect what the individual is doing inside his residence.<\/p>\n