‘Cuz It’s My Computer—That’s Why: When Private Ownership Trumps Free Speech

• In Event: Virtual Freedom: Issues of Freedom of Speech in the Virtual Workplace

Abstract

Employees whose employers provide them with company-owned computers should be aware that their employers will reserve the right to monitor e-mail messages and also their “clickstreams” indicating which web sites employees are visiting. At least one court has ruled that an employer may prohibit employees from reading union-related e-mail messages and from visiting union-related web sites; indeed, the employer could even insist that employees should remove their names from union-related list-servs. Courts have generally ruled in favor of employers who monitor or curtail their employees’ speech on the grounds that the employers own the computers, servers, and are paying the employees for their time.

Author

• Juliet Dee, University of Delaware