Here are my recent links of note from June 22nd.
If you’re interested in the law relating to corporate e-mail systems, be sure to check out Stengart v. Loving Care Agency Inc., linked through the fifth bullet below. It’s a New Jersey case about whether an employee waived privilege in solicitor-client communications by sending them through a personal internet-based e-mail account on a work computer. The e-mails were recovered by the employer, who claimed it could use them in post-employment litigation with the employee. The Court makes some extremely strong statements against employer control over “personal” communications on work systems – some of the strongest I’ve read.
I find the reasoning in Stengart troubling, but am withholding an opinion pending further thought. What’s immediately remarkable to me, however, is how value-laden these e-mail judgements are. Try reading the Alberta Court of Appeal’s recent Poliquin decision and Stengart back-to-back and you’ll see what I mean. This is not good in my view. As a management side advisor and advocate I’m not inclined to promote the enactment of privacy legislation, but if we are going to have enforceable privacy rights, enacting good and balanced privacy legislation might be a way to make such rights understandable. Without predictability, policy-making will be difficult and litigation of reasonable positions might be prohibited by risks that cannot be controlled. These thoughts to be continued at a later date.
- Liked Mike Fitzgibbon’s Summary Judgement in Employment Disputes: http://bit.ly/PHB7y
- RT @marciahofmann: Associated Press imposes strict social networking policy on staff. http://bit.ly/141mCZ (via @dmkravets) [Thank you!]
- Editing Tip: Spell Out Numbers One to Ten, and Don’t Repeat Them in Parentheses: http://bit.ly/6yVHD [Via @eschaeff]
- RT @sectorprivate Some Professors’ Jitters Over Twitter Are Easing http://tinyurl.com/ktxwrq [Thanks Greg!]
- RT @nggauthier The Perils and Promise of the New Jersey Workplace Privacy Ruling: http://bit.ly/U2Kif
- NYT editorial on college binge drinking: http://bit.ly/19J7N7
- RT @PrivacyLaw “Lawsuit against Jefferson County Public Schools” http://tinyurl.com/mf358p
- The Ann Arbour Chronicle argues for e-FOI:http://bit.ly/viW4J
- RT @PrivacyLaw: “Canadian gov’t: you have no expectation of privacy on the Internet” http://tinyurl.com/m5scnk
On a personal note, Seanna and I are new parents of Penelope Green Robinson. She was born two days ago and is very healthy. “Green” is from Joni Mitchell’s song “Little Green” – a lovely (though sad) song about a mother’s love for child. Here’s a pic of PG and her brother Bug, who has been very welcoming. As for me, I’m feeling very grateful for my family and for the wonders of life.
See ya!
Dan
All About Information 
Congratulations to you and your family, Dan!