Regarding employee rights on company equipment

[Greg Broiles]

At 10:32 AM 2/9/96 -0800, lunaslide wrote:

>A day or so ago, I reasoned incorrectly that university students and
>employees were free to encrypt mail they sent through their student or work
>accounts.  This was in response to a statement that the govt could retain
>at least some control of internet traffic through the universities and
>businesses.  I would credit the person who called me on it, by I do not
>remember who it was.  It seems that, at least for employees, it is totally
>up to the employer:
>
>>From Edupage Feb 8, 1996,
>
>INTERNET USAGE POLICIES
>Neal J. Friedman, a specialist in online computer law, says that "employees
>are under the misapprehension that the First Amendment applies in the
>workplace --  it doesn't.  Employees need to know they have no right of
>privacy and no right of free speech using company resources."  According to
>Computerworld, a number of employers are adopting Internet usage polcies,
>such as one developed at Florida Atlantic University: <
>http://www.fau.edu/rinaldi/net/netpol.txt > (Computerworld 5 Feb 96 p55)

I don't think this issue is as simple as Friedman wants to make it sound.
(Then again, he may have been quoted out of context.) In any event, what he
said is true, modulo explicit or implicit contracts to the contrary, rules
about union activity, common-law privacy rights, Title VII, the ECPA and
similar state statutes, and so forth. The quote sounds like a self-serving
statement intended to scare people into believing that their rights are as
limited as the speaker wishes they were. That's not so unusual, but it's not
always useful to get legal advice from someone who sees their interests as
adverse to yours.

(We've gone over the "I think the law regarding employers rights vis-a-vis
employees rights *should* be 'x'" ground a zillion times, and another rehash
seems unproductive. I don't intend to respond to messages along those lines.)

--
"The anchored mind screwed into me by the psycho-  | Greg Broiles
lubricious thrust of heaven is the one that thinks | gbroiles at netbox.com
every temptation, every desire, every inhibition." | 
	-- Antonin Artaud		   	   |