Matthew Tokson

What is Fourth Amendment law now? My new essay, forthcoming in the Notre Dame Law Review, tries to answer that question. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

An example from today's NYT of panoptic AI cameras being used in law enforcement nytimes.com/interactive/...

Privacy/AI/Tech Works Worth Your Attention (Oct 2026 edition) danielsolove.substack.com/p/privacy-ai... Includes works by @margotkaminski.bsky.social @aselbst.bsky.social @aliciasn.bsky.social @orinkerr.bsky.social @profferguson.bsky.social @mtokson.bsky.social @caitlincburke.bsky.social

Now on SSRN! My keynote article explores what law enforcement looks like in the future when AI + ubiquitous cameras can detect almost every crime committed outside of a residence. And why that future is increasingly close to reality. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Now on SSRN! My keynote article explores what law enforcement looks like in the future when AI + ubiquitous cameras can detect almost every crime committed outside of a residence. And why that future is increasingly close to reality. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Scaling Laws' most recent episode was our second live recording of our Scaling Laws Roadshow. Professor Matthew Tokson (@mtokson.bsky.social) joined Kevin to discuss AI, the Fourth Amendment, and the promise of near-perfect surveillance: shows.acast.com/arbiters-of-...

Honored to win the University of Utah's 2026 Faculty Research Excellence in Responsible AI Award. Stay tuned for more scholarship on AI & privacy and AI safety to come.

Chatrie already paying off.

A federal district judge just declared that Flock camera systems violate the Fourth Amendment! Applying Chatrie, the court concludes that extensive camera networks engage in unlawful "indiscriminate mass surveillance." A major ruling. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

A federal district judge just declared that Flock camera systems violate the Fourth Amendment! Applying Chatrie, the court concludes that extensive camera networks engage in unlawful "indiscriminate mass surveillance." A major ruling. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

I was honored to give the Keynote Address at the Nebraska Law Review's annual symposium last week. I spoke about the future of surveillance and law enforcement, and I'll post my keynote article sometime later this fall. It was a great event and I enjoyed it so much.

I was honored to give the Keynote Address at the Nebraska Law Review's annual symposium last week. I spoke about the future of surveillance and law enforcement, and I'll post my keynote article sometime later this fall. It was a great event and I enjoyed it so much.

The Scaling Laws Roadshow continues! Yesterday, @kevintfrazier.bsky.social and @mtokson.bsky.social had a great discussion on AI, surveillance, and privacy at @unlcollegeoflaw.bsky.social.

My new paper forthcoming in the Notre Dame Law Review explains, among other things, how Flock cameras should be analyzed under Chatrie v. US. Basically, it’s going to depend on how many cameras there are. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

My new paper forthcoming in the Notre Dame Law Review explains, among other things, how Flock cameras should be analyzed under Chatrie v. US. Basically, it’s going to depend on how many cameras there are. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Honored to have my essay on AI and the lessons of history featured today in Luiza Jarovsky's great AI newsletter!

🚨 Can past technological developments provide a definitive answer about how AI will impact society? Should we base AI policy and regulation on specific historical examples?

In his paper “AI and the Lessons of History,” @mtokson.bsky.social paints a more nuanced picture: no one person has the full picture of how a technology like AI will unfold, and multiple perspectives from different fields are necessary to inform responsible policies and effective regulation.

Professor @mtokson.bsky.social, a Fourth Amendment expert, is quoted in this @bloombergtax.com article about a recent Supreme Court ruling requiring the government to get a warrant to obtain cell-phone users’ location data.

I'm glad to see lots of law profs posting about AI and existential risk this week. Here are some law review articles we wrote about it and how the law might address it. AI and Existential Risk - papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... Systemic Regulation of AI - papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Prepping a class about the third-party doctrine and I find myself changing almost all of my notes about it to the past tense.

Prepping a class about the third-party doctrine and I find myself changing almost all of my notes about it to the past tense.

New on SSRN – My essay forthcoming in the Notre Dame Law Review explains the new Fourth Amendment law and applies it to internet browsing, google search history, license plate readers, pole cameras, and more. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Now up on SSRN - My essay, forthcoming in the Notre Dame Law Review, examines the Supreme Court's new Fourth Amendment doctrine and explains how lower courts should address Fourth Amendment questions going forward. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Now up on SSRN - My essay, forthcoming in the Notre Dame Law Review, examines the Supreme Court's new Fourth Amendment doctrine and explains how lower courts should address Fourth Amendment questions going forward. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Somehow I just found out today that our 2024 paper on the systemic regulation of AI was "highly recommended" by @lsolum's Legal Theory Blog. Better late than never! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Russia is experimenting with autonomous AI weapons that kill people without human involvement: www.nytimes.com/2026/08/24/w...

Randy Picker was one of my favorite professors at UChicago, and I'm so saddened by this unexpected news.

I appeared on the Dateline NBC True Crime Weekly Podcast to discuss geofencing and the Fourth Amendment. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...

As many know, @bjard.bsky.social and I have been drafting a Technology Law coursebook for a few years. We've used it to teach classes at three institutions, including Yale Law School, and others have used chapters in their techlaw classes. We're excited to share the current version more broadly!

Chapter 10 unpacks the Precautionary Approach, including bans (I finally got to write about AWS!), general critiques (@casssunstein.bsky.social), and variations (moratoriums, licensing regimes, burden-shifting, etc) (Sachs). It closes with a GenAI X-risk case study (@mtokson.bsky.social).

If Chatrie transformed Fourth Amendment law, then what is Fourth Amendment law now? In the second part of a trilogy of blog posts on the Chatrie case, I offer a potential answer. www.dorfonlaw.org/2026/07/what...

In the final essay of his 3-part series on Chatrie v US, @mtokson.bsky.social puts the case in larger context: SCOTUS has rejected calls to reconceptualize 4th Amendment rights in property terms and provided a firm constitutional basis for protecting privacy against new technological threats. 👇

Chatrie v US was the first major SCOTUS 4th Amendment privacy ruling in 8 years. As @mtokson.bsky.social explains on the blog in the 2nd of a 3-part series on the case, it also established a new--sensible and protective--test for determining when surveillance requires probable cause and a warrant. 👇

I break down the Supreme Court's landmark Chatrie case and what it means in a new blog post at Dorf on Law. www.dorfonlaw.org/2026/07/brea...

I break down the Supreme Court's landmark Chatrie case and what it means in a new blog post at Dorf on Law. www.dorfonlaw.org/2026/07/brea...

Don't overlook Chatrie v US, a landmark SCOTUS ruling that enhanced the constitutional privacy rights of mobile phone users (i.e., nearly everyone) and limited government's ability to evade privacy rights via the 3rd-party doctrine. @mtokson.bsky.social analyzes & praises the decision on the blog.👇

The Michigan Law Review's Book Review Issue is officially out in print! You can access it here: repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/ You can access my review here: repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol124/i...

The Michigan Law Review's Book Review Issue is officially out in print! You can access it here: repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/ You can access my review here: repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol124/i...

Update: They got both the facts and the law right.

Professor @mtokson.bsky.social, an information privacy expert, was quoted in @theguardian.com about a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that law enforcement's smartphone location data warrants require privacy protections under the Fourth Amendment.

Kagan's opinion in Chatrie relies heavily on the concept of retrospective surveillance, and correctly determines that retrospective searches should take into account the entire time period of potential surveillance - just as I argue here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The Court sends Chatrie back to the lower court for it to determine whether the search was reasonable, "meaning that each of its steps was properly described with particularity and found to be supported by probable cause." This is the victory I hoped for. The Court got it right.

This is huge: The court holds that police conducted a "search" for purposes of the Fourth Amendment "when they gained access to Location History data."