ECPA Plain English 101 Employer vs. Employee

Cyberspace Law Institute

http://www.cli.org/emailpolicy/ECPA.html

/* BOTTOM LINE LEGALESE */

The special limitations on disclosure of private email, in ECPA,
expressly apply only to those who provide electronic communications
services to the public -- and an internal system provided by an employer
to employees would not be so characterized.

The ECPA also permits access to private communication with
the consent of either the sender or the recipient. Employees
may (have to...) agree to such access (by authorized persons)
in the email policy of the company.

But even if there is no agreement the ECPA only prohibits
interception in real-time transmissions; email is usually
(or at least can be) stored and can be accessed by the system
administrator who usually will be the employer.

http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dltr/articles/2001dltr0026.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/05/close_email_wiretap_loophole/
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:S.936:
http://email.about.com/library/weekly/aa080398a.htm

-- 
====================================================
J. Oquendo
http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x1383A743
echo infiltrated.net|sed 's/^/sil@/g' 
"Wise men talk because they have something to say;
fools, because they have to say something." -- Plato

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