[IP] sedition and the "duty to report": hazards of using your employers' computers]
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: sedition and the "duty to report": hazards of using your
employers' computers
Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2006 08:23:00 -0500
From: David P. Reed <dpreed@xxxxxxxx>
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Re the following news story, from Dewayne's list:
It's important to remember that employers are now "required" to monitor
employee communications for bad behavior (according to some corporate
counsel, at least - according to Jeffrey Rosen, that's the holding in
case law in harassment cases, at least). So it's not surprising that
we don't need "lawful interception" by agencies if we have busybodies in
the IT dept. I don't think there's a "duty to report" sedition, but
harassing speech does seem to be imposing a "duty" on employers.
Since employers are expected by investors to "offshore" non-core IT jobs
that are nonetheless required to do business to India and China, it's
quite reasonable to expect that we will see such warrantless "email
monitoring" outsourced to countries that have cheaper costs, and I'm
sure there are experts in those countries particularly skilled in
detecting "seditious" tendencies in communications (a new profit center
for ex-KGBers? a no-bid contract to Iraqi IT shops subcontracting to
SAIC?).
-----------------
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
ACLU Wants Apology to VA Employee Investigated on 'Sedition'
Associated Press
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico wants the
government to apologize to a nurse for seizing her computer and
investigating her for "sedition'' after she criticized the Bush
administration.
The ACLU said Wednesday the Department of Veterans Affairs
found no evidence Laura Berg used her VA office computer to write
the critical letter.
VA human resources chief Mel Hooker said in a Nov. 9 letter
that his agency was obligated to investigate "any act which
potentially represents sedition,'' the ACLU said.
A VA spokesman in Washington could not say Wednesday whether
the agency had received the ACLU's request.
It seeks an apology from Hooker "to remedy the
unconstitutional chilling effect on the speech of VA employees that
has resulted from these intimidating tactics.''
Even if Berg had used an office computer, neither that nor her
criticism approached "unlawful insurrection,'' said Peter Simonson,
executive director of the ACLU.
"Is the government so jealous of its power, so fearful of
dissent, that it needs to threaten people who openly oppose its
policies with charges of sedition?'' he said.
Berg, a clinical nurse specialist, wrote a letter in September
to a weekly Albuquerque newspaper criticizing how the
administration handled Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq War. She
urged people to "act forcefully'' to remove an administration she
said played games of "vicious deceit.''
She signed the letter as a private citizen, and the VA had no
reason to suspect she used government resources to write it, the
ACLU said.
"From all appearances, the seizure of her work computer was an
act of retaliation and a hardball attempt to scare Laura into
silence,'' the ACLU said.
-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/