The ethical and legal quandary of email privacy

ABSTRACT

What should conscientious employees and their ethical employers expect? It's hard to say.

REFERENCES

• 1: Baumhart, J.T. The employer's right to read employee email: Protecting property or personal prying? The Labor Lawyer 8, 4 (Fall 1992), 923-948.
• 2: Bloustein, E.J. Privacy as an aspect of human dignity: An Answer to Dean Prosser. 39 NYULaw Review, 962, 1001, (1964).
• 3: Bourke v. Nissan Motor Corp., No. YC 003979 (Super. Ct. Cal. filed Jan. 4, 1991).
• 4: Ettore v. Philco Television Broadcasting Co., 229 F. 2d 481 (3d Cir. 1956).
• 5: Griffin,J.J. The monitoring of electronic mail in the private sector workplace: An electronic assault on employee privacy rights. Software Law Journal IV (1991), 493-527.
• 6: Addressing the new hazards of the high technology workplace. Harvard Law Review, 104, 8 (June 1991), 1898-1916.
• 7: Heredia, H.F. Is there privacy in the workplace?: Guaranteeing a broader privacy right for workers under California law. Southwestern University Law Review, 22, 1 (1992), 307-335.
• 8: Luck v. Southern Pacific Transportation Co., 267 Cal. Rptr. 618 (Ct. App. 1990), cert. denied, 111 S. Ct. 344 (1990).
• 9: National Public Radio news broadcasts (1992).
• 10: Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), Federal Government Information Technology: Electronic Surveillance and Civil Liberties (1985).
• 11: O'Connor v. Ortega, 480 U.S. 709 (1987).
• 12: Privacy for Consumers and Workers Act, S. 984, H.R. 1900, (1993).
• 13: Restatement (Second) of Torts 652B (1977).
• 14: Shieh, J. and Ballard, R. Email privacy. Educom Review (March/April 1994), 59-62.
• 15: Shoars v. Epson America, lnc. No. SWC 112749 (Cal. Sup. Ct. filed July 30, 1990).
• 16: Shoars v. Epson America, lnc. No. BC 007036 (Cal. Sup. Ct. filed March 12, 1991).
• 17: Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives Association, 489 U.S. 602 (1989).
• 18: Soroka v. Dayton Hudson Corp., 7 Cal. App. 4th 203, review granted, 4 Cal. Rptr. 2d 180 (1992).
• 19: 18 USC 2510-2521, 2701-1711 (1988).
• 20: Vernars v. Young, 539 F. 2d 966 (3d Cir. 1976).
• 21: Warren, S.D. and Brandeis, L.D. The right of privacy. Harvard Law Review (December 1890), 193-220.
• 22: Watkins v. L. M. Berry & Co., 704 F. 2d 577 (llth Cir. 1983).
• 23: Wilkinson v. Times Mirror Corp., 215 Cal. App. 3d 1034 (Cal. App. 1 Dist. 1989).

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.7 THE COMPUTING PROFESSION
      K.7.m Miscellaneous
          Subjects: Ethics**

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS
      H.4.3 Communications Applications
          Subjects: Electronic mail

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.4 COMPUTERS AND SOCIETY
      K.4.1 Public Policy Issues
          Subjects: Privacy

General Terms:
Legal Aspects, Management