Why your text messages are not private
The media, including your correspondent, reported last week that the Ninth Circuit decision in Quon v Arch clearly established an employee’s right of privacy in his text messages, even on an employer-issued pager.
The court said that a police department that looked through an officer’s text message transcripts in violation of its own informal policy and without the employee’s consent violated his Fourth Amendment rights against search and seizure.
But Matthew Hirsch at GigaOm rightly points out that the holding was considerably narrower than that. The holding was limited to government employment situtations. That’s because the Fourth Amendment only applies to government action.
