malhotraraul
Galvanizer
Friday, 18 June 2010, 16:15 IST
If the employers have a genuine reason to believe that the workplace rules are being violated, U.S Supreme Court' verdict let the employers to search through text messages sent by workers.
As reported by Jaikumar Vijayan of Computerworld, the ruling overturns an earlier decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case involving a California police officer who had claimed his Fourth Amendment rights had been violated when supervisors conducted a search of his text messages.
The Ninth Circuit court had ruled that the city of Ontario, Calif., violated the officer's constitutional rights when police supervisors read transcripts of personal messages, including several sexually explicit ones, that Sgt. Jeff Quon sent using his city-issued SWAT pager.
Quon filed a federal lawsuit against the city, its police chief and the police department in October 2004, contending that the search of his pager was unreasonable.
The suit contended that when Quon and other officers were issued the pagers, the city had no policy related to text-messaging. The city did, however, have official policies surrounding general computer, Internet and e-mail usage policy that limited use to official purposes.
SOURCE
If the employers have a genuine reason to believe that the workplace rules are being violated, U.S Supreme Court' verdict let the employers to search through text messages sent by workers.
As reported by Jaikumar Vijayan of Computerworld, the ruling overturns an earlier decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case involving a California police officer who had claimed his Fourth Amendment rights had been violated when supervisors conducted a search of his text messages.
The Ninth Circuit court had ruled that the city of Ontario, Calif., violated the officer's constitutional rights when police supervisors read transcripts of personal messages, including several sexually explicit ones, that Sgt. Jeff Quon sent using his city-issued SWAT pager.
Quon filed a federal lawsuit against the city, its police chief and the police department in October 2004, contending that the search of his pager was unreasonable.
The suit contended that when Quon and other officers were issued the pagers, the city had no policy related to text-messaging. The city did, however, have official policies surrounding general computer, Internet and e-mail usage policy that limited use to official purposes.
SOURCE
....i never fail to spread the g33kness :bleh: