What is the current state of the law on the right to enter a person's home and ask for personal information?

The fact that the encounter occurs at an individual's home does not transform it into a detention. "Consensual encounters may . . . take place at the doorway of a home." (People v. Rivera (2007) 41 Cal.4th 304, 309.) Unless the police demand that the occupant open the door and come outside, Fourth Amendment protections are not implicated. (People v. Colt (2004) 118 Cal.App.4th 1404, 1411.)

"'Absent express orders from the person in possession against any possible trespass, there is no rule of private or public conduct which makes it illegal per se, or a condemned invasion of the person's right of privacy, for anyone openly and peaceably, at high noon, to walk up the steps and knock on the front door of any man's "castle" with the honest intent of asking questions of the occupant thereofwhether the questioner be a pollster, a salesman, or an officer of the law.' [Citation.]" (People v. Rivera, supra, 41 Cal.4th at p. 309.) The question to be answered in such cases is whether the encounter was consensual under the totality of the circumstances. (People v. Jenkins (2004) 119 Cal.App.4th 368, 371-375.)

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