Text Messages Are Property: Why You Don’t Own Your Text Messages, but It’d Be a Lot Cooler if You Did

Authors

Spence M. Howden, Washington and Lee University School of LawFollow

Abstract

This Note proceeds as follows: Part II offers a brief overview of what text messages are and what they are not. Part III covers the history of intangible personal property law and reviews the evolution of “cybertrespass” claims. Part IV explores the judiciary and the Fourth Amendment’s failure to protect text messages. Finally, Part V evaluates whether text messages constitute property and the practical implications of this finding.

Recommended Citation

Spence M. Howden, Text Messages Are Property: Why You Don’t Own Your Text Messages, but It’d Be a Lot Cooler if You Did, 76 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1073 (2019).
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/wlulr/vol76/iss2/9