Bret Cohen writes: On January 19, the Supreme Court decided NASA v. Nelson, a case brought by NASA contractors alleging that questions asked by the federal agency in a background check violated their constitutional right to information privacy — i.e., a constitutional privacy interest in the government “avoiding the disclosure of personal matters” recognized in a pair of…
Category: Workplace
Should Govt. Employers Be Allowed to Require Your Facebook Login? (updated)
Meredith Curtis of the ACLU of Maryland describes a case that should concern us all: Maryland corrections officer Robert Collins approached the ACLU of Maryland late last year, disturbed that he was required to provide his Facebook login and password to the Maryland Division of Corrections (DOC) during a recertification interview. He had to sit…
Could Your Firm’s E-Mail Policy Run Afoul of the Federal Wiretap Act?
Philip L. Gordon writes: Once seen only in the shadows of the war against organized crime, the Federal Wiretap Act should now be moving steadily and rapidly toward the top of the corporate compliance checklist. Robust civil remedies, recent court decisions and technological developments have transformed the act’s risk profile from a non-event to a…
Deleting E-mails Can Constitute a “Damage” Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Joseph Lazzarotti writes: What is a company’s recourse when a former employee deletes e-mails and other company electronic information before he leaves? A case from Indiana provides a lesson. When Meridian Financial Advisors began serving as Receiver for bankrupted OCMC, Inc., it took possession of a number of OCMC computers, including one belonging to Joseph A….