Year-Long Online Surveillance Violated Man’s Privacy Right

An Oregon man’s right to privacy was violated after law enforcement conducted a warrantless search of his internet activity while on public Wi-Fi, the state’s high court said Thursday.

The Oregon Constitution provides individuals a right to privacy that extends to their online browsing activities, and that right isn’t eliminated when a person accesses the internet through a public network, the Oregon Supreme Court said. The justices remanded the case to circuit court for further proceedings.

“The use of the internet is a modern necessity,” Justice Bronson D. James wrote on behalf of the court’s majority. Although accessing networks ...