The following excerpt is from U.S. v. Sherwin, 539 F.2d 1 (9th Cir. 1976):
10 This conclusion is consistent with the current conception of the function of the fourth amendment. "The premise that property interests control the right of the Government to search and seize has been discredited. . . . We have recognized that the principal object of the Fourth Amendment is the protection of privacy rather than property . . . ." Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 304, 87 S.Ct. 1642, 1648, 18 L.Ed.2d 782 (1967). Once a search is found to have been conducted without state action, then any invasion of privacy is not the government's responsibility.
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