You are in-house counsel at a public company and you suspect an employee may be leaking inside information. You decide to conduct an internal investigation. A computer forensic analysis reveals that the employee has accessed a personal Web-based e-mail account from a company computer and that the login information (username and password) has been recovered from the computer’s memory. Can you log in to that account and read the e-mail?
Unlike an employer’s internal e-mail system, which is generally understood to be under the ownership and control of the employer, personal Web-based accounts accessed at work raise new and unsettled questions about an employee’s expectations of privacy. A computer that accesses a Web-based account — such as an e-mail account, social networking Web site or instant messaging service — merely provides a window into an account that is physically stored elsewhere. Information viewed or created using a company computer may be accessible without logging in to the account by accessing “temporary Internet files” on the company’s computer, and is therefore arguably fair game to review. Other information in the account that was not viewed or created from a company computer, however, is likely only accessible by logging in and exploring the Web-based account. How far can you go?
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