Website Launched:  12/26/1994 Last Update:  2/14/2013 The Integrity Center, Inc. "objective risk management services" (972) 484-6140 [ Since 1984 ] HOME Reference Articles   SCREENING Check List Backgrounds TUTORIALS SERVICE MENU FCRA THIS COMPANY Our Methods Why Use Us Myths Pitfalls CHECK MYSELF CHECK NANNY USEFUL LINKS Library Statistics PRESS RELEASE The Integrity News Vol. XII No. 21 ISSN 1081-2717 July 12, 2003 Information Week July 7, 2003 ( pg. 26 ) Putting A Crimp In The Management Of Spam An ex-employee sent messages to over 35,000 employees of his former employer criticizing the employer's employment  practices. Last week, the California Supreme Court ruled that this did not constitute trespassing on the employer's computers. Below are some of the key points from the article:     "This is not good news for companies trying to keep all kinds of unsolicited messages off their networks.  Worse, the decision could make it more difficult to fight in court against other intrusions."     "The court ruled that the company could not claim a property right to an employee's time, and that opinion could prove to be the most wide-reaching."     "The decision could make it tougher to win civil lawsuits against hackers whose intrusions aren't serious enough for criminal investigators to pursue.  The bar has definitely been raised."     "Other states are likely to follow California's ruling, and the effect will be to limit companies' control of their networks."     A former head of the Justice Department's computer crimes unit comments that clearly this court case says that a company cannot "sue over everything that they don't like happening to their systems."     "The court rejected the company's contention that the ex- employee's mailings constituted spam, similar to any unsolicited, commercial mass emailing."     "The most damaging part of the 29-page decision could be the conclusion that there wasn't economic harm to the company from current employees reading the ex-employee's messages." The company maintained that the court disregarded any constitutional arguments. The company said:   "It was not a case about the ex-employee's right to free speech.   When you use the company system, you don't have those rights." Editor's Note: Don't assume that this ruling will not be appealed. The company did not buy the court's ruling that "the messages didn't damage the company's computers and email systems 'any more than the personal distress caused by reading an unpleasant letter would be an injury to the recipient's mailbox'."   The email system can be clogged, and the personal mailbox analogy doesn't take into account that each employee is selling their time and abilities to the employer. The trip into the Information Age is full of twists and turns. 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