E-mail Privacy

[Jeff Leyser]

In post <15110 at ccncsu.ColoState.EDU>, conca at handel.cs.colostate.edu (michael vincen conca) says:
!!I am the system administrator for a group of research scientists in the
!!psychology department here.  Today I was presented with a rather touchy
!!situation:
!! [...Deleted...]
!!Today,
!!my boss asked if it would be possible to retrieve this employee's E-mail
!!off of backup, find the memo, and print it out in case it was needed as 
!!evidence in a possible court case.
!! [...Deleted...]
!!	Is this legal?  Is this ethical?  If this person still worked
!!here, I would immediately refuse.  But since they don't, do they still
!!have any rights to their E-mail?  Right now, I am leaning towards refusing
!!because I think a person's E-mail is theirs, regardless of their status
!!with the organization.  Anyone have any other opinions on this?

I see two possible answers here, depending in large part on your school's
past attitudes:

A)  All data on the system belongs to the school, regardless.  Under this
assumption, retrieving the memo would be in line with previous school policy.
If I were asked to restore something of this nature, I would do so, but only
after recieving a WRITTEN request from MY BOSS.  After all, the system belongs
to the school, not to me.

B)  Data is considered private.  In this case, I would not retrieve the memo
unless ordered to do so by someone VERY high up, as this would mark a
significant change in school policy.  Again, I would demand such a request in
writing.  The system still belongs to the school, but the school has
previously stated (or heavily implied) that the data belongs to individuals.

Maybe as a "way out" -- is there a draft copy on any backup?  A draft would
belong to the writer (in this case, the manager), so I see no problem in
restoring that.

And as a final step, TEACH YOUR USERS THAT EMAIL IS *NOT* THE PLACE FOR
IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS OF THIS TYPE.  AND TEACH THEM TO CC: THEMSELVES ON **ALL**
EMAIL!  Had a secretary typed up such a memo, you can be *DAMN* sure s/he
would have kept a file copy.
-- 
Jeff Leyser                                     jeffl at ncoast.org
Opinions?  I thought this was typing practice!  leyser at tsa.attmail.com