Your trash is not private. It can be searched by the police. At least, in Canada, that is the court ruling:

“…In a dissenting opinion, one judge said investigators crossed the line by reaching onto a suspected drug producer’s property to check out his trash. Justice Carole Conrad said the Mounties who searched the garbage bags of drug suspect Russell Stephen Patrick breached his right to privacy.”

link: Police can search your garbage says Alberta’s top court

The immediate reaction may be general agreement with this court ruling. It allows evidence in a matter against an alleged drug producer. However, there are significant implications as to what is considered private property. Consider, for a moment, if an employer wants to see if indeed you are not smoking. Is a search of the trash for evidence of smoking behaviour fair play? What if your employer believes that you are not having a healthy diet or your child’s school believe you are contributing to the child’s weight problem or … it opens a myriad of problems on issues of privacy and security.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster:  http://flyinghamster.com/

[tags]privacy, security, trash, court ruling, evidence[/tags]