29 Nov
1999
29 Nov
'99
2:33 p.m.
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