[ISN] Supreme Court rules for employer in text-messaging case

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-06-17/business/sc-biz-0618-texts--20100617_1_text-messaging-work-related-purpose-jeff-quon

By David G. Savage
Chicago Tribune 
Washington Bureau
June 17, 2010

WASHINGTON - People who want to send highly personal notes to a romantic 
partner were given a word of warning Thursday by the Supreme Court: Do 
not use the messaging system supplied by your employer if you want to 
keep them private.

In a 9-0 ruling, the justices rejected a broad right of privacy for 
workers and said a supervisor may read through a public employee's text 
messages if he or she suspects work rules are being violated.

The decision was the high court's first to consider the privacy rights 
of employees who send messages on the job. It comes at a time when 
millions of American workers spend at least part of their day talking on 
phones or sending messages on computers or cell phones, many of which 
are supplied by their employers.

At issue was whether the Fourth Amendment's ban on "unreasonable 
searches" puts any limits on searches by public employers. The court 
said the limits were minimal, so long as the employer had a 
"work-related purpose" for inspecting an employee's desk or reading the 
messages sent by the employee on its paging system.

[...]


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