Company Email Policy -- Background

Some companies instinctively conclude that they can and should reserve the right to access employee email whenever they want, because they provide the hardware and software used by company employees. But the boundaries between company property and the property of others, between employees and independent contractors, and even between the company's computer systems and those of others, are blurring.

Before adopting too simplistic a company policy, consider the following:

• Many of those who use the company systems may be independent contractors, rather than employees. They may even be entirely independent suppliers or customers.
• Your company may or may not own the system used to provide email for employees. Many companies now contract with third party networks for this service.
• Email originating on your company's system may be sent over private links, or the public internet, to third parties. Some messages in employee mailboxes may have come in through such routes -- and the senders of such messages may have no notice of, and may not have consented to, any company policies regarding access or disclosure.
• Your company also owns and provides to employees many other types of property -- such as pencils and telelphones -- that are regularly used by employees to send personal and private messages.
• Your company probably considers some of the spaces inside its buildings, such as desk drawers in an employee's desk, to be entitled to special privacy protections.
• Employees work at home and use equipment not owned by the company.
• Company owned databases, bulletin boards and web pages may contain links to materials at remote location that are not owned or authored by the company.