Email Privacy

Contrary to the public's belief, emails are not a private or secure form of communication. This general misconception amongst employees has repeatedly resulted in legal quagmires and ethical dilemmas. "It's a situation that arises a million times a day in offices around the world. An employee has something personal to tell a co-worker.... Rather than pick up the phone or wander down the hall, he or she simply types a message on the desktop computer terminal and send it as electronic mail. The assumption is that anything sent by E-mail is private. That assumption unfortunately is wrong" (Gindin). Does your boss know what color underwear you were wearing during your romantic rendezvous last weekend? He very well could and according to the courts rightfully so, if you disclose such matters via email messages from your work computer. "Managers can legally intercept, monitor, and read employees email" (Shanon,Rosenthal).

Why do people assume that email is private? This assumption could seem reasonable, given that email can be accessed from a personal message service that requires a password to access, providing a false sense of confidentiality. Perhaps people who are familiar with the privacy protection of the U.S. mail system assume it applies to email as well. It is possible for someone to have a misconstrued faith in technological security when using electronic communication. These are only a few of the several possible reasons a person could mistakenly rationalize that email messages are free from interception. Unfortunately serious adverse ramifications may await employees who are unaware that their computer use can be monitored.

A very well known case involving email privacy is Shoars vs. Epson America, Inc. In this c...

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Shannon, J. and Rosenthal, D. "Electronic mail and privacy: Can the conflicts be

resolved?" Business Forum. 18 Winter/Spring 1993. 31-34.

Shea, Virginia "Company Policies on email content and privacy." Netiquette. 05/09/2003

http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/0963702513p127.html

Shoars v. Epson America, Inc. No. BC 007036 Cal. Sup. Ct. filed 03/12/1991

Shoars v. Epson America, Inc. No. SWC 112749 Cal. Sup. Ct. filed 07/30/1990

Smyth v. Pillsbury, Co. C.A. No. 95-5712 Penn. Dist. Ct. filed 01/23/1996

Spykerman, Mike "Is email monitoring legal?" Red Earth Software. 05/09/2003

http://www.redearthsoftware.com