E-mail Privacy

[Sean Casey]

bri at kpc.com (Brian Rice) writes:

[Explains that systems people must sometimes look at mail headers,
that email is not to be used for confidential documentation, that
employers are compassionate when they point this out, and that I have
confused email management with how a company values its employees.]

I have to agree with the first. I'm a systems programmer for a WAN
that passes thousands of messages a week. All of the mail software
I've seen (including Unix mailers like MMDF and sendmail), generally
only write headers when they display debugging info. The body is
usually useless for problem determination; I don't even want to see
it.

I don't feel that I should read the body of a message unless it is
absolutely necessary, which is almost never. If I did, and it weren't
required to keep mail running, I'd expect to be terminated or strongly
disciplined for a serious breach of our users privacy.

What email "should" be used for, and what people expect to use it for
are sometimes two different things. Just because a company owns the
equipment is not ethical license to define extremely narrow uses or to
read employee mail. Most people would find such a policy unreasonable.

Remember, just because it may be legal doesn't make it right.

If a company said it was going to rifle your desk and your company car
whenever it felt that it was its advantage to do so, how would you
feel? What if they said they'd steam open your mail? Or that they
would tap your telephone at random? Or all of the above? Would you
work there? I wouldn't. I'd find it goddamn insulting.

And I don't think "compassion" is the driving force behind notifying
people their mail can be bugged at any time. I believe it is fear of
litigation. A compassionate company wouldn't bug an employees mail or
tap their telephone or search their office unless there were
extraordinary circumstances and then only in cooperation with the
police. A compassionate company would respect their employees, and
find means of dealing with problems that don't punish the good people.

Companies should remember what goes around comes around. If they want
to attract good people and get them to work, they had better treat
them with professional respect.

Sean

-- 
** Sean Casey  <sean at s.ms.uky.edu>