Re: digital-copyright Digest 13 Nov 2002 16:00:00 -0000 Issue 102

[William Miller <miller@xxxxxxx>]

It is pretty well established that communications done at work are the 
property of the employer, not of the employee.  This person has no 
"copyright"  on communications done at work.  If the communication is 
purely personal, it should not be done at work, on a work-supplied 
machine.  Employers routinely fire people based on misbehavior discovered 
from analyzing their e-mail, and courts have consistently sided with the 
employers.  wm

At 04:00 PM 11/13/2002 +0000, digital-copyright-digest-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
wrote:
> digital-copyright Digest 13 Nov 2002 16:00:00 -0000 Issue 102
>
> Topics (messages 243 through 243):
>
> Privacy of EMAIL
>         243 by: Fred Gertler
>
> Administrivia:
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 10:01:39 -0800
> To: <digital-copyright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> From: "Fred Gertler" <FGertler@xxxxxxx>
> Subject: Privacy of EMAIL
> Message-Id: <sdd0d19e.069@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Friends,
>
> I apologize if this has been answered or is not appropriate for this list.
>
> We are in a situation in which a staff member asserts that email sent by her
> to a member of the faculty from her work computer is personal email. The staff
> member voluntarily shared hard copy of this email with her supervisor, and now
> contends that the supervisor cannot share that hard copy because it is
> personal.
>
> My question is: Does the supervisor have the right to share the hard copy of
> this email without the employee's consent? permission? knowledge?
>
> Thank you.
>
> Fred Gertler
> Head, Customer Services
> Michel Orradre Library
> Santa Clara, CA 95053
> Phone: 408-554-6808
> EMAIL: fgertler@xxxxxxx
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of digital-copyright Digest
> ***********************************