Supreme Court Considers Expectation of Privacy for Texts Sent on an Employer Issued Device

Yesterday the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in City of Ontario v. Quon. The question before the court in Quon is whether an employee of a local police department has a reasonable expectation of privacy in text messages sent on his employer-issued pager. Media coverage of the case can be found here, here, and here.

While Quon involves issues related to the Fourth Amendment and privacy rights of government employees, the resolution of the case should provide private sector employers with some guidance on how to deal with employee use and/or misuse of company issued cell phones, PDA, pages, etc.