Legal Aspects of Electronic Mail in Public Organizations

2013 ◽  
pp. 231-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Prysby ◽  
Charles Prysby
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Mail ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Public Access ◽  
State Laws ◽  
The Public ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Legal Questions ◽  
Public Record ◽  
E Mail

The increasing use of electronic mail in the workplace has generated important legal questions, especially for public organizations. The legal questions concerning e-mail in public institutions and agencies fall into two basic categories: (a) issues of employee privacy regarding e-mail messages; and (b) public access to e-mail under applicable freedom of information legislation. While employees might believe that their e-mail messages are private, the employer has broad legal grounds for reading workplace e-mail. In particular, when the employer owns the e-mail system, which almost always is the case, the employer has considerable latitude to access and read stored e-mail messages, at least if there is some legitimate business reason for doing so. Government organizations also must treat at least some of their email as part of the public record, making it open to public access. State laws vary considerably in terms of how they define the types of e-mail messages that are part of the public record, some being far more inclusive than others. Given the uncertainty and confusion that frequently exists among employees regarding these legal questions, it is essential that public organizations develop and publicize an e-mail policy that both clarifies what privacy expectations employees should have regarding their e-mail and specifies what recording keeping requirements for email should be followed to appropriately retain public records. <BR>

Electronic Mail in the Public Workplace

2003 ◽  
pp. 271-298
Author(s):  
Charles L. Prysby ◽  
Nicole D. Prysby
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Mail ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Public Access ◽  
State Laws ◽  
Employee Privacy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Legal Questions ◽  
Public Record ◽  
E Mail

The increasing use of electronic mail in the workplace has generated important legal questions for public organizations. The legal questions concerning e-mail in public institutions and agencies fall into two basic categories: (a) issues of employee privacy regarding e-mail messages; and (b) public access to e-mail under applicable freedom of information legislation. While the employer has broad legal grounds for reading workplace e-mail, at least if there is some legitimate business reason for doing so, employees frequently feel that such monitoring is an excessive invasion of their privacy, and the result sometimes is organizational conflict over these privacy issues. These privacy concerns have generated demands for greater protection of employee privacy in this area, and some states have responded with legislation that covers e-mail in the workplace. Government organizations also must treat at least some of their e-mail as part of the public record, making it open to public access, but this also can lead to conflict between public administrators, who may feel that much of their e-mail represents thoughts that were not intended for public disclosure, and external groups, such as the press, who feel that all such information belongs in the public domain. State laws vary considerably in terms of how they define the types of e-mail messages that are part of the public record, some being far more inclusive than others. Given the uncertainty and confusion that frequently exist regarding these legal questions, it is essential that public organizations develop and publicize an e-mail policy that both clarifies what privacy expectations employees should have regarding their e-mail and specifies what recording keeping requirements for e-mail should be followed to appropriately retain public records.

You Have Mail, but Who is Reading It? Issues of E-Mail in the Public Workplace

2011 ◽  
pp. 312-336
Author(s):  
Charles L. Prysby ◽  
Nicole D. Prysby
Keyword(s):  
Public Organizations ◽  
Public Access ◽  
State Laws ◽  
Employee Privacy ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
The Public ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Legal Questions ◽  
Public Record ◽  
E Mail

The increasing use of electronic mail in the workplace has generated important legal questions for public organizations. The legal questions concerning e-mail in public institutions and agencies fall into two basic categories: (1) issues of employee privacy regarding e-mail messages, and (2) public access to e-mail under applicable freedom-of-information legislation. While the employer has broad legal grounds for reading workplace e-mail, at least if there is some legitimate business reason for doing so, employees frequently feel that such monitoring is an excessive invasion of their privacy, and the result sometimes is organizational conflict over these privacy issues. These privacy concerns have generated demands for greater protection of employee privacy in this area, and some states have responded with legislation that covers e-mail in the workplace. Government organizations also must treat at least some of their e-mail as part of the public record, making it open to public access, but this also can lead to conflict between public administrators, who may feel that much of their e-mail represents thoughts that were not intended for public disclosure, and external groups, such as the press, who feel that all such information belongs in the public domain. State laws vary considerably in terms of how they define the types of e-mail messages that are part of the public record, some being far more inclusive than others. Given the uncertainty and confusion that frequently exist regarding these legal questions, it is essential that public organizations develop and publicize an e-mail policy that both clarifies what privacy expectations employees should have regarding their e-mail and specifies what record-keeping requirements for e-mail should be followed to appropriately retain public records.

scholarly journals “Ag-Gag” Laws: Evolution, Resurgence, and Public Health Implications

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 664-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin A. Ceryes ◽  
Christopher D. Heaney
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Animal Production ◽  
Public Access ◽  
State Laws ◽  
The Public ◽  
Food Animal ◽  
Health Community ◽  
History Of

The term “ag-gag” refers to state laws that intentionally limit public access to information about agricultural production practices, particularly livestock production. Originally created in the 1990s, these laws have recently experienced a resurgence in state legislatures. We discuss the recent history of ag-gag laws in the United States and question whether such ag-gag laws create a “chilling effect” on reporting and investigation of occupational health, community health, and food safety concerns related to industrial food animal production. We conclude with a discussion of the role of environmental and occupational health professionals to encourage critical evaluation of how ag-gag laws might influence the health, safety, and interests of day-to-day agricultural laborers and the public living proximal to industrial food animal production.

Historical Records

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Access ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Historical Records ◽  
Public Records ◽  
The Public ◽  
Code Of Practice ◽  
National Archives ◽  
Public Record ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Information Regime

Chapter 7 examines the relationship between the freedom of information regime established by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and the pre-existing statutory regime governing the keeping of public records under the Public Records Act 1958. It describes the processes by which public records are transferred to the Public Record Office and opened to public access, and the progressive replacement of the ‘30-year rule’ with a ‘20-year rule’. It explains the separate, but related, concept of ‘historical records’ introduced by the 2000 Act, and the removal of certain exemptions by reference to the age of documents. The special procedures applicable to requests for information in transferred public records that have not been opened to the public are set out. The chapter then summarizes the guidance given to relevant authorities about the above matters by the Lord Chancellor’s Code of Practice and the National Archives.

scholarly journals Tendencies of civil society in Uzbekistan. Some views on formation of public chamber

2021 ◽  
pp. 78-82
Author(s):  
S.Sh. Saidov
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Democratic Values ◽  
The Public ◽  
Regulatory Documents

Analyzed are trends in the construction of civil society in Uzbekistan. Examined is the structure of the Public chamber, described are its tasks, functions and responsibilities. Noted is, that in recent years a number of regulatory documents were adopted in Uzbekistan in this regard, and in some cases they contradict each other. The article recognizes not only organizational and legal aspects of formation of civil society, but also the need to strengthen its ideological foundations, increase civic engagement and introducing of democratic values. It is specially noted, that indicator of the mature level of civil society is not number of public organizations or official membership in them, but the level of citizens’ involvement in these organizations, i.e. social base of civil society, that determines socio-political stability in the country.

scholarly journals Delivery of a Certified E-mail Service over the Digital Terrestrial Television Platform

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Susanna Spinsante
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Mail ◽  
User Authentication ◽  
Administrative Services ◽  
The Public ◽  
Regional Service ◽  
Digital Terrestrial Television ◽  
Mail Service ◽  
Network Interfaces ◽  
E Mail

At present, the electronic mail service is probably the most widespread and commonly used asynchronous way ofexchanging information among people, thanks to its immediacy and easiness of use. Information delivered through E-mail can be sensitive or confidential: ensuring the sender’s identity and providing privacy has become a vital step in stopping spam, fraud and even more serious crimes. To this aim, public entities have adopted Certified E-mail systems to manage secure interactions with citizens.Digital Terrestrial Television introduced new facilities in thetraditional broadcasting environment, and determined the transition of several Electronic based-services to Television basedservices. The availability of commercial Set Top Boxes equipped with network interfaces and smart card readers enables the provisioning of personalized interactive TV services, requiring user’s identification and authentication, that still represent open issues in the TV context. In this paper we discuss the challenges of a Certified E-mail service over Digital Terrestrial Television,and present the case study of the Italian Regione Marche, in which this service is under development to support the remote request of certificates issued by the public administration. In particular, our attention is devoted to user authentication and secure access to the administrative services, addressed through the use of a Regional Service Card, an interactive application, and a centralized authentication framework.

scholarly journals Sistem Keamanan Multi Mail Server dengan Teknik Enkripsi OPENPGP pada Zimbra Exchange Open Source Software

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 493
Author(s):  
Amrul Faruq ◽  
Khaeruddin Khaeruddin ◽  
Merinda Lestandy
Keyword(s):  
Open Source Software ◽  
Electronic Mail ◽  
Public Key ◽  
Test Results ◽  
The Public ◽  
Private Key ◽  
Mail Server ◽  
Mail Service ◽  
Server Application ◽  
E Mail

<p class="Abstrak">Surat elektronik atau <em>email</em> merupakan media komunikasi yang sangat populer. Untuk mengirim dan menerima email, diperlukan sebuah penyedia <em>(server)</em> yang di dalamnya terdapat layanan <em>email</em>. <em>Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS)</em> merupakan salah satu aplikasi <em>mail server powerfull</em> yang dapat dipergunakan sebagai aplikasi <em>mail</em> <em>server</em> dalam jumlah user puluhan hingga ribuan. Pada penelitian ini, sistem enkripsi pada Zimbra <em>multiple-mail</em> <em>server</em> menggunakan metode OpenPGP  diimplementasikan untuk mengamankan isi <em>email</em> yang dikirim maupun yang diterima, yaitu dengan memanfaatkan <em>public key</em> dan <em>private key</em>. Hasil pengujian menunjukkan metode <em>OpenPGP </em> mampu bekerja dengan baik untuk keamanan sistem pengiriman dan atau penerimaan <em>email</em> pada <em>multi mail server</em>.</p><p class="Abstrak"> </p><p class="Abstrak"><em><strong>Abstract</strong></em></p><p class="Abstract"><em>Electronic mail or e-mail is a very popular communication medium. To send and receive e-mails, a provider (server) is needed in which there is an e-mail service. Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) is one powerful mail server application that can be used as a mail server application in the number of users from tens to thousands. In this study, the encryption system on the Zimbra multiple-mail server uses the OpenPGP  method to be implemented to secure the contents of e-mails sent and received, namely by using the public key and private key. The test results show that the OpenPGP  method works well for the security of the email sending/receiving system on a multi-mail server.</em></p>

Enhancing Public Involvement Through Full Utilization of Communications Technology

2002 ◽  
Vol 1817 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Russell ◽  
Jeffrey K. Herzer
Keyword(s):  
Public Involvement ◽  
Effective Interaction ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Communications Technology ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Projects ◽  
Technology Applications ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Client Side ◽  
E Mail

Communications technology applications such as websites and e-mail play an increasingly important role in public involvement programs. Most significant projects that include public involvement offer at least a website and e-mail. Many also produce multimedia CDs and place interactive kiosks throughout communities. This proliferation of communications technology applications is creating new opportunities and new demands on the public involvement process. Although this technology enhances public access to projects, it also requires creative approaches for presenting information and documenting public comments. Public involvement and technology professionals must work together closely to ensure that communications technology applications create effective interaction between members of the public, projects, and clients and to ensure that technology enhances public involvement activities for the widest audience possible. Examples of current communications technology applications, guidelines that ensure that technology enhances public involvement activities, and processes that ensure online public involvement activities are effectively documented are presented, along with examples of client-side applications to ensure effective use of online input. Case studies that illustrate these principles and offer guidance concerning when and where technology can replace or supplement traditional public involvement approaches are presented.

Electronic Mail, Employee Privacy and the Workplace

2011 ◽  
pp. 251-270
Author(s):  
Charles Prysby ◽  
Nicole Prysby
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Mail ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Employee Rights ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Employee Privacy ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
Illegal Behavior ◽  
Legal Questions ◽  
E Mail

Electronic mail (e-mail) has become increasingly important in the workplace. The growth of this new medium of communication has generated important legal questions about the privacy and monitoring of e-mail messages, so much so that most experts strongly recommend that organizations adopt explicit policies about e-mail for their own legal protection. The legal questions concerning e-mail in the workplace include both: (a) employee rights to privacy regarding e-mail messages; and (b) employee obligations to monitor e-mail to ensure a suitable workplace or to prevent illegal behavior. We discuss both of these topics in this chapter, attempting not only to outline current legal thinking in the area, but also to raise questions that managers and policy makers should consider. It is worth noting at the start that many of the legal issues surrounding the use of e-mail are direct extensions of principles that apply to other forms of communications. Indeed, much of the law that governs e-mail is not legislation that was written explicitly to cover this particular form of communication. Issues of the privacy of employee e-mail messages, for example, are directly analogous to issues of the privacy of employee phone calls or written correspondence. To be sure, there are questions about exactly how legal principles that were established for older communication technologies should be applied to a new one, and perhaps not all of these questions are fully settled at this point in time, but our understanding of this topic is broadened if we appreciate the application of legal principles across communication media.

Placing Modern Medical Records in Public Archives: Is it Worth the Effort?

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 155-161
Author(s):  
Irene Kearsey
Keyword(s):  
Medical Records ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Patient Records ◽  
Hospital Records ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Record ◽  
Public Archives ◽  
Modern Hospital

In this paper, the author looks at the arguments for and against placing modern medical records in public archival facilities. She considers the various ethical, legal and practical issues involved in archiving patients' records with the intention of making them available for public access after seventy-five years from the date of last contact of the patient with the hospital or sooner under certain specified circumstances. The range of sampling and selection techniques available for reducing the volume of patient records to be retained is also discussed. Citing the experience of the Public Record Office Victoria, the author concludes that it is justifiable to breach confidentiality by placing modern medical records in public archives but that it will be many years before an assessment can be made of the appropriateness or otherwise of placing modern hospital records in public archives and whether it proves to be worth the effort. (AMRJ, 1989,19(4), 155–161).

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