The point Lori makes is important! First, you need to have a company policy, and make sure that it is well known. Also, you need to know what the privacy laws are in every jurisdiction that applies. Some of these may run counter to your policy, and it is the law that will take precedence, obviously.
Most companies start with the premise that the data content of their IS infrastructure is something that they own and can control. Of course, this assertion implies liability for problems that might arise from that content, which they probably would not like to accept. You can't have it both ways. You may recall this case: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/content/zdnn/0507/zdnn0015.html Wang's mail was in an ISP's mail service paid for by Borland and use as though it was Borland's internal system, but was not under Borland's control, let alone ownership. So there was no way for Borland to demonstrate that their rights had been violated, since they didn't own the system involved. The question as to whether or not the result would have been different had the mail system in question been Borland's own internal system remains unanswered, at least in California, but one suspects that Borland might have prevailed in that case and that the charges might not have been dropped, but that is speculation, not fact. There is one other aspect to keep in mind, your behavior can modify your written policy. Let say that you have a policy that flat out states that the mail system is your company's property and that you have the right to audit its contents. Let's further assume that you have the local legal authority to do make it stick. Then you bring in a supplier to work on your premises and provide messaging services to them, and you treat their mail as confidential and you make sure everyone understands that they have confidentiality with respect to their mail. At least for non-employees, you just voided your policy, and you might have voided it for everyone, depending on how you presented the change. Make sure that as you develop your policies and you get legal advice on them that you tell you lawyers everything. If you get advice from a lawyer but did not let them know all of the circumstances, then their advice is not going to cover your behavior, is it? -----Original Message----- From: Hunter, Lori [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2002 9:16 AM To: Exchange Discussions Subject: RE: Legal Question....... The law varies by location as does company policy. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2002 10:41 AM To: Exchange Discussions Subject: Legal Question....... All, I have pretty much been lurking on this list for awhile now. I really respect the Technical opinions that most have offered, Not to mention, the biting sarcasm keeps me in fits of laughter. That Said, I have a client that has asked me a question that I don't Have the legal expertise to answer, and was curious if 1. Any of you have dealt with a similar experience and 2. Could point me to a specific, reference in writing. I was recently approached by my client to get access to one of their employees email. I told them to hold off, I would have to check if I was legally able to do that for them. The equipment is owned by my client. There is Policy in the employee handbook states that Email is for business use only. My client has reason to believe an employee is sending corporate information, (vendor lists and pricing) Offsite to someone outside their company. My client and I both reside in the U.S., in the state of Maryland. Does anyone know what the legal ramifications of viewing/reviewing an employees email are? _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
