Isn't This Common Sense?

On Thursday 6 June 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that an employee who sends personal messages or phone calls on a phone, pager, or computer issued by their employer runs the risk of being monitored. This is the result of a law suit brought by police officers from a police department in Ontario, California (isn't Ontario a province of Canada?) who sued the city for reading personal text messages -- some of which were sexually explicit.


Don't we know this already? Shouldn't phones etc. issued by a business be used solely for the business? I mean, the only job that I can think of that would need to sext (send sexually explicit messages, see A Teenager Could Have Figured This Out from 4/20/2010) is someone along the lines of a prostitute. Also, aren't all things issued by a company monitored? I don't have a job, and I know that. For God's sake, there is software out there specifically designed to monitor employee's computers and phones. Of course these people are going to get caught. (Also, if this police officer was married, then his logic for not being discovered for infidelity was totally backwards -- just saying.)


And how is this a violation of a person's rights? If you are using something issued to you by your employer, then you don't own it. How is screening a call / text message on a business phone an invasion of personal privacy? Second, shouldn't a business phone be used for, like, business only? Why didn't the police department to which these officers belong simply demand the phone / computer / pager back from the officers or dismiss them? This should never have come as far as the US Supreme Court having to announce this for America, and this should never have gone to court in Canada.


I'm currently in school. If I use the school's Wi-Fi or a school computer, I don't go using the internet in ways that would make me look bad or disobey rules. I don't send IMs on these school computers. I barely check my Facebook on said computers. If I want to do that (but who still uses an instant messenger anyway?), I do it at home.


You can also see that I'm not alone in my opinion: the Supreme Court voted unanimously that companies are allowed to monitor activity on employer-issued devices.

So, just to conclude:

• This is just common sense.
• People shouldn't use their business phones for cheating on their wives.
• Companies have the right to monitor phone and internet activity on employer-issued devices.
• Who let this case get so far?