COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
While “the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures is applicable to commercial premises, as well as to private homes…”, it has been recognized that “[A]n expectation of privacy in commercial premises, however, is different from, and indeed less than, a similar expectation in an individual’s home”. New York v. Burger,107 S.Ct. 2636, 96 L.Ed.2d 601 (1987).
Moreover, in contrast to the private home-owners Fourth Amendment rights, the owner of commercial property has no expectation of privacy beyond the interior of its covered buildings (there apparently is no “curtilage” recognized with respect to commercial property).
“The intimate activities associated with family privacy and the home and its curtilage simply do not reach the outdoor areas or spaces between structures and buildings of a manufacturing plant.” Dow Chemical Co. v. U.S., 476 U.S. at 236 [upholding EPA’s aerial surveillance].
