Supreme Court backs police department that read employee's texts

[Bozita]

Source: CSM

Supreme Court backs police department that read employee's texts
A police sergeant was using a work-issued pager to send sexually explicit texts. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the police department was entitled to read his messages.

By Warren Richey, Staff writer / June 17, 2010

Washington


Officials in Ontario, Calif., did not violate the privacy rights of a police sergeant when they audited transcripts of his department-issued pager and discovered sexually-explicit messages to and from his girlfriend, the US Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

In a unanimous decision, the high court said that even if police Sgt. Jeff Quon had an expectation that his pager messages would remain private, a police department audit of his messages was nonetheless reasonable.

“Because the search was motivated by a legitimate work-related purpose, and because it was not excessive in scope, the search was reasonable,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court.

The decision potentially opens the way for employers to examine information stored on government-issued or company-issued equipment, even when that information may be considered highly personal and private by an employee.

Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2010/0617/Supreme-Court-backs-police-department-that-read-employee-s-texts

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I'm sure Kwame Kilpatrick will be pissed at hearing this.

[msongs]

1. stuff you doing your employers' equipment is fair game unless agreed otherwise nt

[brendan120678]

2. So the lesson here is...

Don't use government-issued or company-issued equipment to send/receive information that may be highly personal and private.

[Igel]

3. Yes.

But it's not an especially new lesson. It's one that gets repeated every couple of years for the last couple of decades.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

4. If you're currently at reading this at work say hi...

...and tell me what you're wearing.