Legal Question in Technology Law in Ohio

Are emails that you send to a specific person deemed private or confidential ?


Asked on 7/25/10, 1:16 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Neil Rubin Neil S. Rubin, Attorney at Law, LLC

Depends on what computer, server or system and time you sent it. (This law has changed very recently.) In general, in Ohio, if you sent it on an employer's computer or server during work you have no expectation of privacy and thus there is no confidentiality. Basically, your employer can monitor any communication they want during work.

As I said above, there is a new case which held that a person sending an email with a private email address, during lunch, from an employer's computer could be deemed private. However, there are a whole bunch of other circumstances which occurred.

If this email has any connection to work, whatsoever, I advise NOT to write anything that you would not like to see on a large billboard over the interstate.

Now, if this has nothing to do with employment and it is a private computer, it depends on who else is allowed access to the computer and what expectation of privacy arises. I can not advise you further until I have more facts.

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Answered on 7/30/10, 8:53 am


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