I have 2074 emails sitting in my inbox today. Most of them are read, just not filed, which means I have a little bit of work to do. A majority of the emails are business related, but a few of them are personal emails which I read on the Apple mail client, Mail.
I assume, as I’m sure that you do, that my emails are private. But in an increasingly sophisticated technical world, that may not be the case.
Just ask Bonnie Van Alstyne. Alstyne was hired by ESL, a small data conversion company, in January 2001 as VP of marketing. Van Alstyne was assigned a company e-mail account, but like me - and millions of other online users - she also used a personal account to conduct business from time to time.
In October 2001, things got ugly at ESL. One of the owners of the company, Edward Leonard, reportedly made advances to Van Alstyne. She declined and two months later, she agreed to be recategorized as an independent contractor. A few months later she was fired.
Van Alstyne sued for sexual harassment and the company countersued for business torts. During discovery, it became apparent that Leonard had accessed Van Alstyne’s personal email account. Leonard not only admitted that he had accessed her personal email account, but had done so even after she left the company. While he first claimed to have only done so a couple of times, the court found that he had accessed more than 258 of Van Alstyne’s private emails.
With this information in hand, Van Alstyne sued Leonard and ESL for violations of the Stored Communications Act (the SCA is part of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act). Van Alstyne was awarded more than $400,000. On appeal, however, the judgement was reduced by $175,000. The 4th Circuit ruled that the SCA does not provide statutory damages in the absence of proof of actual damages. More or less, Van Alstyne didn’t prove that she had suffered from Leonard’s actions - hence, the lack of “actual damages.” However, the circuit also ruled that it’s not necessary to show actual damages to award punitive damages or attorney fees. Van Alstyne’s award for punitive damages and attorney fees remains.
ESL has since filed for bankruptcy.
Of course, if this story sounds a little bit familiar, it’s because it’s not the first time an invasion of privacy case involving email has made news. In 2008, a similar story made news in Philadelphia when it was revealed that former KYW news anchor Larry Mendte was under investigation for reading former KYW news anchor (and news magnet) Alycia Lane’s personal emails. Mendte allegedly accessed Lane’s personal emails more than 500 times. He was eventually charged with a felony and sentenced to six months of house arrest, three years probation, a $5,000 fine and 250 hours of community service. Lane has since sued KYW for a host of issues relating to her firing, her on air persona and her relationship with Mendte.
What we are learning from cases like those involving Van Alstyne and Lane is that what once seemed so private - your email - is not as protected as you might think. Chances are, invasion of privacy matters - at work and at home - will become more commonplace. The question will be: how will the courts react?
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