stewarts@ix.netcom.com (Bill Stewart) writes: [...]
There may be ECPA issues involved, especially if CalPolySLO is a government- run university; the sysadmins certainly need to learn some ethics... [...]
I think the ECPA should apply to private universities, too. The FERPA also applies to virutally all U.S. private universities. - Carl =============== ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/faq/email.privacy =============== q: Can (should) my university monitor my email? a: Ethically (and perhaps legally) email communications should have the same privacy protection as telephone calls. It would be unwise for any university employee to tap email communications without authorization from the university president, university legal counsel, and the academic freedom committee. According to Mike Godwin, legal services counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the U.S.'s Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) could be reasonably construed to protect university email. This is also the reported opinion of the U. of Michigan's lawers. Also, the U.S.'s Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act gives students at all public and most private schools some privacy rights. A U.S. government task force says that "[Email] monitoring [of government employees] of actual communications and communicators may impinge on the Constitutional rights of freedom of speech (1st Amendment), against unreasonable search and seizure (4th Amendment), and against self-incrimination (5th amendment), as well as on the right to privacy, specifically as set forth in both the Privacy Act and the ECPA." In the context of libraries, the American Library Association's Policy on Confidentiality of Library Records suggests this procedure to deal with an official or police request for information about users: 'When drafting local policies, libraries should consult with their legal counsel to insure these policies are based upon and consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law concerning the confidentiality of library records, the disclosure of public records, and the protection of individual privacy. Suggested procedures include the following: 1. The library staff member receiving the request to examine or obtain information relating to circulation or other records identifying the names of library users, will immediately refer the person making the request to the responsible officer of the institution, who shall explain the confidentiality policy. 2. The director, upon receipt of such process, order, or subpoena, shall consult with the appropriate legal officer assigned to the institution to determine if such process, order, or subpoena is in good form and if there is a showing of good cause for its issuance. 3. If the process, order, or subpoena is not in proper form or if good cause has not been shown, insistence shall be made that such defects be cured before any records are released. (The legal process requiring the production of circulation or other library records shall ordinarily be in the form of subpoena "duces tecum" [bring your records] requiring the responsible officer to attend court or the taking of his/her deposition and may require him/her to bring along certain designated circulation or other specified records.) 4. Any threats or unauthorized demands (i.e., those not supported by a process, order, or subpoena) concerning circulation and other records identifying the names of library users shall be reported to the appropriate legal officer of the institution. 5. Any problems relating to the privacy of circulation and other records identifying the names of library users which are not provided for above shall be referred to the responsible officer.' - Carl M. Kadie ANNOTATED REFERENCES (All these documents are available on-line. Access information follows.) =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/law/ecpa.1986.godwin"> law/ecpa.1986.godwin =================</a> * Privacy -- E-mail -- ECPA - University Site Mike Godwin, legal services counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), says that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) could be reasonably construed to protect university email. =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/law/ferpa.text"> law/ferpa.text =================</a> * Privacy -- Students -- FERPA (Buckley Ammendment) The full text of the Family Educational Right to Privacy Act (Buckley Amendment). =================<a href="http://www.eff.org/CAF/faq/email.policies.html"> faq/email.policies =================</a> * Email -- Policies q: Do any universities treat email and computer files as private? a: Yes, many universities treat email and computer files as private. ... =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/library/confidentiality.1.ala"> library/confidentiality.1.ala =================</a> * Confidentiality -- 1 (ALA) The American Library Association's "Policy on Confidentiality of Library Records" Suggests how to handle police or official requests for information about a user. =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/library/computer.draft.ala"> library/computer.draft.ala =================</a> * DRAFT: Access to Electronic ... Services and Networks ... (ALA) A draft interpretation by the American Library Association of the "Library Bill of Rights" Says in part: "Libraries and librarians exist to facilitate [freedom of speech and freedom to read] by providing access to, identifying, retrieving, organizing, and preserving recorded expression regardless of the formats or technologies in which that expression is recorded." =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/statements/bill-of-rights.aahe"> statements/bill-of-rights.aahe =================</a> * Bill of Rights ... for Electronic ... Learners This is the "Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for the Electronic Community of Learners". It could become the first widely endorsed statement directly related to computers and academic freedom. =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/statements/caf-statement"> statements/caf-statement =================</a> * Computer and Academic Freedom Statement -- Draft This is an attempt to codify the application of academic freedom to academic computers. It reflects our seven months of on-line discussion about computers and academic freedom. It covers free expression, due process, privacy, and user participation. Comments and suggestions are very welcome (especially when posted to CAF-talk). All the documents referenced are available on-line. (Critiqued). =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/statements/caf-statement.critique"> statements/caf-statement.critique =================</a> * Computer and Academic Freedom Statement -- Draft -- Critique This is a critique of an attempt to codify the application of academic freedom to academic computers. It reflects our seven months of on-line discussion about computers and academic freedom. It covers free expression, due process, privacy, and user participation. Additional comments and suggestions are very welcome (especially when posted to CAF-talk). All the documents referenced are available on-line. =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/academic/student.freedoms.aaup"> academic/student.freedoms.aaup =================</a> * Student Freedoms (AAUP) Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students -- This is the main U.S. statement on student academic freedom. =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/academic/speech-codes.aaup"> academic/speech-codes.aaup =================</a> * Speech Codes (AAUP) On Freedom of Expression and Campus Speech Codes Expression - An official statement of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) It says in part: "On a campus that is free and open, no idea can be banned or forbidden. No viewpoint or message may be deemed so hateful or disturbing that it may not be expressed." =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/law/uwm-post-v-u-of-wisconsin"> law/uwm-post-v-u-of-wisconsin =================</a> * Expression -- Hate Speech -- UWM Post v. U Of Wisconsin The full text of UWM POST v. U. of Wisconsin. This recent district court ruling goes into detail about the difference between protected offensive expression and illegal harassment. It even mentions email. It concludes: "The founding fathers of this nation produced a remarkable document in the Constitution but it was ratified only with the promise of the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment is central to our concept of freedom. The God-given "unalienable rights" that the infant nation rallied to in the Declaration of Independence can be preserved only if their application is rigorously analyzed. The problems of bigotry and discrimination sought to be addressed here are real and truly corrosive of the educational environment. But freedom of speech is almost absolute in our land and the only restriction the fighting words doctrine can abide is that based on the fear of violent reaction. Content-based prohibitions such as that in the UW Rule, however well intended, simply cannot survive the screening which our Constitution demands." =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/law/gillard-v-schmidt"> law/gillard-v-schmidt =================</a> * Privacy -- School -- Staff Desk -- Gillard v. Schmidt Description of an appellate court ruling that the school board could not search the desk of a school counselor without a warrant. =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/law/email.gov-employee"> law/email.gov-employee =================</a> * Privacy -- E-mail -- Government Employees A U.S. government task force: "[Email] monitoring [of government employees] of actual communications and communicators may impinge on the Constitutional rights of freedom of speech (1st Amendment), against unreasonable search and seizure (4th Amendment), and against self-incrimination (5th amendment), as well as on the right to privacy, specifically as set forth in both the Privacy Act and the ECPA." Enclosed are guidelines for legitimate monitoring of government employee email. =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/law/mass-student-searches"> law/mass-student-searches =================</a> * Privacy -- Mass Students Searches An excerpt from The ACLU Handbook: _The Rights of Students_, stating that "there must a reasonable suspicion directed specifically at each student before a school official can search students." =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/law/constraints.constitutional"> law/constraints.constitutional =================</a> * Constitution -- Public University -- Constraints Comments from _A Practical Guide to Legal Issues Affecting College Teachers_ by Partrica A. Hollander, D. Parker Young, and Donald D. Gehring. (College Administration Publication, 1985). Discusses the constitutional constraints on public universities including the requires for freedom of expression, freedom against unreasonable searches and seizures, due process, specific rules. =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/law/ecpa.umich"> law/ecpa.umich =================</a> * Privacy -- E-mail -- ECPA - University Site A summary of a newspaper report that the U. of Michigan's lawyers believe(d) that the institution is barred under the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act from reading electronic mail. =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/law/privacy.email"> law/privacy.email =================</a> * Privacy -- E-mail -- Law -- Hernandez "Computer Electronic Mail and Privacy", an edited version of a law school seminar paper by Ruel T. Hernandez. =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/law/privacy.workplace"> law/privacy.workplace =================</a> * Privacy -- Workplace Comments from and about _The new hazards of the high technology workplace_ see (1991) 104 _Harvard Law Review_ 1898. Talks about email and other electronic monitoring. =================<a href="ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/CAF/law/email.bib"> law/email.bib =================</a> * Privacy -- E-mail -- Bibliography I have been having an e-mail conversation with Stacy Veeder for several days on the topic of e-mail privacy. She mailed me this bibliography which she has compiled for two papers which she is currently writing. I post it here with permission. PS - She is interested in talking with anyone who has some views on the topic/information to share. Mark N. ================= ================= If you have gopher, you can browse the CAF archive with the command gopher gopher.eff.org These document(s) are also available by anonymous ftp (the preferred method) and by email. To get the file(s) via ftp, do an anonymous ftp to ftp.eff.org (192.77.172.4), and then: cd /pub/CAF/law get ecpa.1986.godwin cd /pub/CAF/law get ferpa.text cd /pub/CAF/faq get email.policies cd /pub/CAF/library get confidentiality.1.ala cd /pub/CAF/library get computer.draft.ala cd /pub/CAF/statements get bill-of-rights.aahe cd /pub/CAF/statements get caf-statement cd /pub/CAF/statements get caf-statement.critique cd /pub/CAF/academic get student.freedoms.aaup cd /pub/CAF/academic get speech-codes.aaup cd /pub/CAF/law get uwm-post-v-u-of-wisconsin cd /pub/CAF/law get gillard-v-schmidt cd /pub/CAF/law get email.gov-employee cd /pub/CAF/law get mass-student-searches cd /pub/CAF/law get constraints.constitutional cd /pub/CAF/law get ecpa.umich cd /pub/CAF/law get privacy.email cd /pub/CAF/law get privacy.workplace cd /pub/CAF/law get email.bib To get the file(s) by email, send email to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com Include the line(s): connect ftp.eff.org cd /pub/CAF/law get ecpa.1986.godwin cd /pub/CAF/law get ferpa.text cd /pub/CAF/faq get email.policies cd /pub/CAF/library get confidentiality.1.ala cd /pub/CAF/library get computer.draft.ala cd /pub/CAF/statements get bill-of-rights.aahe cd /pub/CAF/statements get caf-statement cd /pub/CAF/statements get caf-statement.critique cd /pub/CAF/academic get student.freedoms.aaup cd /pub/CAF/academic get speech-codes.aaup cd /pub/CAF/law get uwm-post-v-u-of-wisconsin cd /pub/CAF/law get gillard-v-schmidt cd /pub/CAF/law get email.gov-employee cd /pub/CAF/law get mass-student-searches cd /pub/CAF/law get constraints.constitutional cd /pub/CAF/law get ecpa.umich cd /pub/CAF/law get privacy.email cd /pub/CAF/law get privacy.workplace cd /pub/CAF/law get email.bib -- Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF or my employer; this is just me. =Email: kadie@eff.org, kadie@cs.uiuc.edu = =URL: <http://www.eff.org/CAF/>, <ftp://ftp.cs.uiuc.edu/pub/kadie/> =