The case of Alana Shoars. In January 1990, Alana Shoars was the e-mail administrator for Epson America, Inc. Arriving for work one day, she discovered her supervisor reading and printing out e-mail messages between other employees. The company had placed a tap on the gateway that interfaced their network to MCI Communications Services. She says she had been told by the same manager that all messages on the system were to remain private. That is what she told the employees when she trained them to use the system. She questioned the practice and said she was told to mind her own business. A day later she was fired for insubordination.  »

:When they use e-mail, under U.S. law, people have less right to privacy than when they send physical documents. Peruse the articles on an overview of e-mail privacy and e-mail issues in the workplace and answer the following questions.

1. Legally, a company has the right to read employees' e-mail. But is it ethical? Why or why not?
   • "Just as a company has the right to prohibit personal use of a photocopier, it should have the right to stop personal use of e-mail by employees." Do you agree with this statement?
   • "Just as an employer should not listen in on employees' phone conversations, it should not read their e-mail." Do you agree?
     
     
2. What about the following differences between e-mail and phone calls?
   
   
   • E-mail implicates the company because of the domain name of the sender.
   • It is easier to get a lot of people upset at you by flaming in e-mail than over the phone.
   • Records of e-mail can more easily be retained and used later, e.g., at a trial.
   • As it becomes more pervasive, e-mail becomes more like the postal system, which employers cannot monitor at all.
     
     
3. How much, if at all, would the presence of a written company policy on e-mail use affect your answers to the previous questions?
4. If you believe that e-mail should generally be private, should there be exceptions to this policy, for example, to cover for an employee who is ill or out of town?
5. Is new legislation needed to safeguard the privacy of employees' e-mail?
6. Given the possibility of forging e-mail, what kind of proof should be required before taking action against those suspected of personal use? »