California v. Greenwood

An individual abandons any expectation of privacy in garbage bags once left at the curb outside his curtilage. It is common knowledge that plastic garbage bags left on or at the side of a public street are readily accessible to animals, children, scavengers, snoops, and other members of the public. In addition, in this case, the defendant placed his trash at the curb for the express purpose of conveying it to a third party, the trash collector. The trash collector might have sorted through the trash or allowed others, such as the government, to do so. Accordingly, the defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the items discarded. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, does not enjoy Fourth Amendment protection.