eMail: Capital offense?

From: Nick Oliviero <oliv555_at_arrl.net>
Date: Mon Nov 29 19:33:27 1999

Jay West wrote:

> I had our corporate attorneys look into this issue in a general way several
> years ago.
>
> I was told that in Missouri at least, a company may do anything they want to
> with an employees email, including but not limited to reading it. The catch
> is that the email must be delivered using company owned equipment. If the
> mail is received by or transits company gear, it actually belongs to them.
> That much I know.
>
> So, it seems fairly clear companies have a right to read your email. Then
> the question becomes what can they do about it? I would strongly suspect
> that if they have a clear company policy that demands no personal mail be
> sent or received,

Legitimate, acceptable policies in my view. What grabbed my attention about this
story was that workers were fired because personal email was delivered to
their accounts. A situation one usually has little control over. Don't want to
pass judgement without knowing the details though. I've sent a query to the
station that aired this, no response yet.

Nick
Received on Mon Nov 29 1999 - 19:33:27 GMT