I use "absolutist position" in the sense that Justice Black used it when applying it to the First Amendment. Yes, in that case, it's an absolute position: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;"
So you're right that Sen. Paul is more taking a narrow view towards "unreasonable" rather than being absolutist.
However, when it comes to digital information, we have little historical precedent to rely on. Right now, the law governing digital storage, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, says that all email stored over 60 days is considered abandoned and can be requested from the storage depot (Gmail, often) without a warrant and without notifying the nominal owner (me).
First, your notion of Black's absolutism is hyperbolic (I'd also ask you: did Black ever actually say that, or are you attributing to him Wikipedia's description of his work?). For instance, the Vinson and Warren courts didn't overturn statutes regarding fraud, which are clearly restrictions on freedom of speech.
Second, it's easy to be an "absolutist" about free speech, because the First Amendment is very clear. "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech." But read the Fourth Amendment carefully and notice that it is not written as strictly. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, against unreasonable searches shall not be violated." What's "unreasonable"? If the framers didn't want the Supreme Court constantly grappling with that question, they'd have written the amendment differently; it's not as if it didn't occur to anyone to write "Congress shall make no law enabling searches or seizures without a warrant, and no warrant shall issue without probable cause". But they didn't write that.
The historical precedent is easily adapted to digital information. Historically, international communications were not protected. The government can inspect any package you send outside the U.S. and any package you receive from outside the U.S. So why should the same not apply to electronic communications? Historically, information you gave to third parties was not protected. The government doesn't need a warrant to get Kinkos to give them the documents I printed there. Why should the government need a warrant, then, to get Google to give them the documents I have on my Google Docs account?
Interesting. I was more thinking along the lines of how copyright is increasingly digital and increasingly out of touch with the 1791 state of copyright, as per the Derek Khanna article.
Definitely not something I know much about, though. Thanks.
So you're right that Sen. Paul is more taking a narrow view towards "unreasonable" rather than being absolutist.
However, when it comes to digital information, we have little historical precedent to rely on. Right now, the law governing digital storage, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, says that all email stored over 60 days is considered abandoned and can be requested from the storage depot (Gmail, often) without a warrant and without notifying the nominal owner (me).