Do city employees have any expectation of privacy if using work computers to surf porn sites? And can the city shield the names of those employees from freedom of information requests? Those questions are being addressed in a Billings, Montana court. Ed Kemmick reports:
The Billings Gazette filed a lawsuit against the city of Billings on Thursday, asking for the release of public records dealing with city workers who were disciplined for viewing inappropriate websites on the job.
[…]
In a letter dated Sept. 10, City Attorney Brent Brooks said the city would supply the information regarding the Internet searches. It has not yet provided that data.
As for the other two requests, Brooks said, “We cannot fulfill these requests because to do so would violate individual City employee’s right to privacy.”
Read more on Billings Gazette.