What is the current state of the law in the context of undercover operations where the agent is an invited informer?

Undercover operations, in which the agent is a so-called "invited informer," are not "searches" under the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 701 (citing Maryland v. Macon, 472 U.S. 463, 105 S.Ct. 2778, 86 L.Ed.2d 370 (1985)). Even though a conversation between an agent and a target may occur in an otherwise private environment,

[490 F.3d 1137]

"a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties." Id. at 698 (quoting Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 743-44, 99 S.Ct. 2577, 61 L.Ed.2d 220 (1979)). Finding an expectation of privacy in the defendants' surreptitiously recorded comments would have been, we observed, "inimical to established fourth amendment doctrine." Id. at 699.