Question about email privacy

[seaking420]

I just got off the phone with a friend of mine. He was telling me a story that a friend of his got fired because someone got into his email account and printed out a few emails (that he shouldnt have been discussing about) and handed them in to the owner of the company and got fired. Is there any laws of privacy for email accounts??? Not work related ones.

 

[stilleto]

were they on his work computer? through his work email?

 

[SpyWizard]

privacy?? on a computer that the company owned?? no.. the supreme court even had a ruling regarding this, as well as he does not have a right to privacy when cruising the internet either..

with that said, it should be said in his employee handbook what can and cannot be done with electronic communications..

he can always sue, but he'll need an attorney for tha..

 

[Creepusmaximus]

Some employers actively run software to scan E-mails and web usage.

No you have no rights as far as using work computers.

 

[MichaelScott]

agreed

 

[seaking420]

were they on his work computer? through his work email?

No this was his personal email that he uses at home. He has a hotmail account that he uses, and said that somehow this other guy (who hates him, but very computer savy) was able to get a few emails that he sent. He thinks that he somehow hacked into his email account.

 

[UA_Iron]

No this was his personal email that he uses at home. He has a hotmail account that he uses, and said that somehow this other guy (who hates him, but very computer savy) was able to get a few emails that he sent. He thinks that he somehow hacked into his email account.

That would be a big invasion of privacy.

I think his best bet is to talk to a lawyer.

 

[drsketch]

yes its illegal to break into an email account, goods luck proving who did it though.
If using the netz at work or any place for that matter remember data can be captured when traveling over the wires... If something is truly private that you do not want anyone to see dont put it on a pc,

 

[the_alcatraz]

If you're using company resources, then they own everything on it, including your email if it's open on their server

 

[stilleto]

No this was his personal email that he uses at home. He has a hotmail account that he uses, and said that somehow this other guy (who hates him, but very computer savy) was able to get a few emails that he sent. He thinks that he somehow hacked into his email account.

I'm guessing that if it's hotmail, your friend checked it from his work computer at some point.

 

[lostinfitness]

your friend is up the creek. There is no expectation of privacy whatsoever while on employer owned computers, servers etc. If i were him I would just move on and find another job. The company has the right to say why were you checking personal emails while on company time/resources.

good luck to him

 

[SpyWizard]

No this was his personal email that he uses at home. He has a hotmail account that he uses, and said that somehow this other guy (who hates him, but very computer savy) was able to get a few emails that he sent. He thinks that he somehow hacked into his email account.

that's possible.. but they way he probably did it was he guessed, or put a key stroke on the guys' computer, caught the hotmail account password, logged on from a different computer system (if he's smart like a library)_ and accessed it that way..

does the guy have recourse?? only if hotmail has records and he can prove the IT guy did it from the work location..

but.. what he would sue for is hostile work environment, not invasion of privacy..

A person is not guaranteed privacy.. check the constitution..

best advice, don't write things you don't want others to know..

 

[seaking420]

that's possible.. but they way he probably did it was he guessed, or put a key stroke on the guys' computer, caught the hotmail account password, logged on from a different computer system (if he's smart like a library)_ and accessed it that way..

does the guy have recourse?? only if hotmail has records and he can prove the IT guy did it from the work location..

but.. what he would sue for is hostile work environment, not invasion of privacy..

A person is not guaranteed privacy.. check the constitution..

best advice, don't write things you don't want others to know..

Thats what I thought happened, somehow this guy was able to get his password to get into his account. Sucks that people go to this extreme to screw someone over and make them lose thier job.