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Supreme Court Says Gov't Employee Texts Not Private

Posted by timothy on from the where-to-draw-the-line dept.

e9th writes "The Supreme Court, in a 9-0 ruling, has decided that government employers are entitled to examine all text messages sent with government-provided devices, even if the employee has agreed to pay for any excess message charges out of his own pocket. While the ruling only applies to government employees (at all levels), it may give private sector employees something to think about when using employer-provided devices."

2 of 263 comments (clear)

  1. Always seperate work and personal by alphax45 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My wife’s job wanted her to use her personal Blackberry for work emails and such. I told her that you always have to keep it separate because: - what if you leave? - what if we go over our data? Are they going to pay the overage? can we prove it was because of work stuff? - what if you accidently send work things to personal contacts and vice versa? It opens too many issues. If work wants you to have a device for work, they provide and pay for it and you use it ONLY for work. Simple.

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    K Man
  2. Re:Simple. by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now why would you go and do something silly like pay for your own phone service when you can get the taxpayers to pick up the tab instead?

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    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.