Dow Chemical Co. v. United States, 476 U.S. 227 (1986), was a United States Supreme Court case decided in 1986 dealing with the right to privacy and advanced technology of aerial surveillance.

The EPA used, without a search warrant, a commercial aerial photographer to get photographs of a heavily guarded Dow facility that was, according to the petitioner, protected by the State Trade Secret Law. The decision: For purposes of aerial surveillance, the open areas of an industrial complex are more comparable to an "open field" in which an individual may not legitimately demand privacy.^[1] In the absence of a "reasonable expectation of privacy" the Fourth Amendment prohibiting unreasonable searches does not apply.

• Aerial surveillance doctrine
• California v. Ciraolo, 476 U.S. 207 (1986)
• California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35 (1988)
• Curtilage
• Expectation of privacy
• Florida v. Riley, 488 U.S. 445 (1989)
• Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27 (2001)
• Open-fields doctrine

• Diane Rosenwasser Skalak, Dow Chemical Co. v. United States: Aerial Surveillance and the Fourth Amendment, 3 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 277 (1986) Available at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pelr/vol3/iss2/6
• "AERIAL SEARCHES OF FENCED AREAS UPHELD BY COURT," The New York Times (May 20, 1986)

• Text of Dow Chemical Co. v. United States, 476 U.S. 227 (1986) is available from: Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)