Does the Thermal Imaging Device Reveal Non-Criminal Information?
In analyzing whether the use of a thermal imaging device ought to count as a “search,” we might ask how much this device resembles our hypothetical corpse detector. The government claims that the imaging device reveals nothing about what is going on in the house. But the Court following Justice Souter’s line of questioning might wish to demand greater assurances. If there is a heat pattern associated with cultivating marijuana, then it is worth asking whether there are heat patterns associated with legal activities, too. Could police use the machine to detect, for example, how many people are in the house at any given time? Could they detect whether the people are in separate rooms or together? If the technology may be desensitized so that it reveals only marijuana plant cultivation but nothing else it may be appropriate to allow its use, in that desensitized form alone, without a warrant. The prospect of technology examining our homes, without our consent or even our knowledge, seems
