Web Worker Daily

There’s been a little groundswell of commentary recently about Quon v. Arch Wireless, a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that enhanced rights with respect to text messages, even when sent over your employer’s devices. But as Matthew Hirsch points out over at our parent blog GigaOM, you shouldn’t take this decision as carte blanche to say whatever you want over your employer’s lines without fear of consequences.

A few things you should keep in mind: this decision is only binding in the Ninth Circuit’s area (and they are widely viewed as an outlier in the Federal Court system), you can’t assert Fourth Amendment protections against your non-governmental employer, policies you agree to at employment may dilute the privacy rights the Ninth found, and messages stored on your employer’s own servers aren’t covered. Keeping private messages in your own private email is still the best policy.