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Monday, December 14, 2009

Courts - "SCOTUS will rule on privacy of text messages sent on employer-owned devices"

David G. Savage of the LA Times has a story today, updating his story from Dec. 12, 2009. Here is the start of today's long story:

Washington - The Supreme Court said today it would rule for the first time on whether employees have a right to privacy when they send text messages on electronic devices supplied by their employers.

The justices agreed to hear an appeal from the police department in Ontario, Calif., that was successfully sued by Sgt. Jeff Quon and three other officers after their text messages -- some of which were sexually explicit -- were read by the police chief.

Last year, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals broke new ground by ruling that the police officers had a "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their text messages. The officers had been led to believe by a supervisor that the devices were also for personal use, the appeals court said.

A Supreme Court ruling on the issue, due by June, could set new rules for the workplace at a time when most employees use computers, cellphones or texting devices as part of their job. The 9th Circuit's opinion was the first from a federal appeals court to hold that the Constitution protected the privacy rights of workers who were using electronic devices supplied by their employer.

The case is City of Ontario vs. Quon.

Another story today on another case: Tresa Baldas reports in The National Law Journal in a story headed "Court Finds Personal E-Mail Privileged Even if Sent From Work." The story begins:

A federal prosecutor has won his fight to conceal e-mails he sent to his attorney over the government's computers, contradicting a popular belief that employees have no expectation of privacy on work computers.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on Thursday that Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Tukel had a reasonable expectation of privacy in those e-mails because federal prosecutors were allowed to use work e-mail for personal matters. Therefore, Tukel's messages to his private lawyer sent from work are covered by the attorney-client privilege and can remain confidential.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 14, 2009 04:02 PM
Posted to Courts in general