Business LawData Security & Privacy

Court Rules Personal E-mails Private Even if Sent from Government Computers

 
A Federal District Court judge ruled in December that personal e-mails from a government employee that were sent to his attorney from government computers is private, which challenges the popular notion that government employees do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy at work.  Whenever I talk about expectations of privacy in the workplace, I am quick to point out that many of the rulings deal with matters related to "Government" infringement on a citizens’ expectation of privacy, and not "private enterprise".  So before you barge into your boss’s office and demand that she stop snooping on your Gmail account, remember that it is unclear whether the Court’s ruling is applicable to non-governmental entities, private enterprises, etc. 
 
The case, Convertino v. United States Department of Justice, dealt with former federal prosecutor Richard G. Convertino who believed that he was retailiated against by the Bush Administration when he was fired after his 2004 terrorism convictions in Detroit, MI, were overturned due to prosecutorial misconduct.  Mr. Convertino had requested the e-mail correspondences of Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Tukel to his personal attorney which were sent from his work e-mail.  The policy of the U.S. Dept. of Justice allowed prosecutors to use their work e-mail for personal matters.  Mr. Convertino believes that Mr. Tukel’s personal e-mails to his attorney may shed some light into who leaked confidential information into his prosecutorial misconduct to the Detroit Free Press.
 

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