privacy U.S. v. Hamilton workplace privacy
Federal Appeals Court Addresses Email Privacy, Notes EPIC's Amicus Brief
The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has affirmed the lower court judgement in United States v. Hamilton. At issue in the case was the privacy of workplace e-mails exchanged between a husband and wife. The government argued that Hamilton waived his right to email privacy because he failed to safeguard his email after a change in the computer use workplace policy. EPIC argued as amicus curiae brief, that it would be extremely difficult for employees to securely delete all confidential saved e-mails whenever a use policy changed, an issue the court explored during oral argument. The court wrote that "In an era in which email plays a ubiquitous role in daily communications, these arguments caution against lightly finding waiver of marital privilege by email usage," but determined that Hamilton did not take any steps to protect the email and therefore had waived the spousal privilege. For more information, see EPIC: United States v. Hamilton and EPIC: Workplace Privacy.
December 13, 2012| Share:
