Intellectual Property Law

Supreme Court declines to answer the fun question on text messaging

By Steve Cosentino

In the recent Supreme Court decision Ontario v. Quon,the court held that the government's search of text messages on government owned pager equipment did not violate the 4th Amendment or privacy rights of a police officer.  No surprise there.  The court declined to rule specifically on expectation of privacy.  However the court did provide some fodder for making expectation of privacy arguments in the communications technology context, stating "The Court must proceed with care when considering the whole concept of privacy expectations in communications made on electronic equipment owned by a government employer . . . A broad holding concerning employees' privacy expectations vis-a-vis employer provided technological equipment might have implications for future cases that cannot be predicted."

Full post as published by The TechKnowledgy Blog on June 25, 2010 (boomark / email).