RE: Personal Privacy issues (from midrange-l)

>> Jim:
>> If I've got e-mail that I don't want stored on my company's
>> e-mail servers I
>> just abuse my corporate Internet privileges to access my AOL
>> account via the
>> web.

> Phil:
>If there is a policy that prohibits my use of the company's internet access
>to access my Yahoo mail, then I would be guilty of that.

I agree.  That's why I used the word "abuse".

> Phil:
>This, according to a post from Janet Krueger, isn't safe either.
>...But I did not
>forfeit my right to privacy of the content of the transmission.  All that I
>forfeited was the privacy of the transmission (ie not the content).

I agree again -- captured web content is an unexpected side-effect of
browser cache, sniffers, and anal-retentive management.  Also, my point
about content on telephone is flawed.  Even if I abuse my company's
long-distance policy I don't expect to have my calls recorded and judged for
their content.  From the perspective of phone and web transaction content I
can see yours and Nathan's points about e-mail content.  Then again, content
has relevance -- if you run the office copy machine for personal use I could
understand if you were reprimanded for copy your taxes, but fired for
copying your butt.

I suppose I'm more comfortable with captured e-mail than captured Internet
traffic, and I feel that your average company would be less likely to store
your Internet text than messages you generated within their own e-mail
database.  Still, if my company captured my AOL web mail entries through
their firewall I don't think I'd be indignant.  I'd feel personally
responsible for assuming that my transactions on their server were private.
Again, even if they were just keeping a rolling day of Internet traffic in
files for throughput/performance monitoring it could be recalled by a higher
power during an audit or subpoena.  I could be wrong, but I believe that
your love letters to the person in the next office could be pulled from a
recycle bin for an audit.

Admittedly I'm riding the fence between my version of "common sense" and the
law.  I know that US Mail is protected by privacy laws.  Even if you sent a
letter using your office's paper, envelopes and postal meter your company
doesn't have the right to open it (though I wonder if they have the right to
open your mail if it's addressed to the company's location).  I don't know
whether I believe that all forms of communication should be deemed private,
or whether you should only expect privacy from specifically protected
mediums.  For right now it appears that if the law doesn't explicitly
guarantee e-mail privacy I shouldn't expect privacy.  I think it will
require specific legislation, not broad interpretation of existing laws.
For this reason I have no expectation of privacy for anything generated on
my office computer.

-Jim

James P. Damato
Manager - Technical Administration
Dollar General Corporation
<mailto:jdamato@dollargeneral.com>