Third-party doctrine

I just came across this "third-party doctrine" while listening to Darknet Diaries - EP 138: The Mimics of Punjab

The third-party doctrine is a United States legal doctrine that holds that people who voluntarily give information to third parties—such as banks, phone companies, internet service providers (ISPs), and e-mail servers—have "no reasonable expectation of privacy" in that information.

In 1976 (United States v. Miller) and 1979 (Smith v. Maryland), the Court affirmed that "a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties."

This is a baffling statement. How is providing information to above mentioned services considered "voluntary" when it is absolutely necessary for one to start using the service in the first place. What little privacy do we have for ourselves if any.

In the episode, Naomi Brockwell talks about digital privacy, and Jack Rhysider pushes for the awareness and responsible actions we can take.

This is something to think about.