State Supreme Court puts crimp in policing internal e-mail
Posted on Mon, Jun. 30, 2003
By Howard Mintz
Mercury News
"Putting a crimp in corporate efforts to police internal e-mail systems, a deeply divided California Supreme Court today refused to allow the Intel to block a disgruntled ex-worker from bombarding the Santa Clara chip giant with thousands of electronic messages critical of its labor practices.
Breaking new ground in Internet law, the Supreme Court, by a 4-3 vote, refused to extend traditional property rights to company e-mail systems, thus siding with ex-Intel worker Ken Hamidi in his long-running legal feud with the Santa Clara-based chip giant. Intel five years ago obtained an injunction blocking Hamidi from sending the company's employees an avalanche of e-mails regarding his firing and the chipmaker's labor practices, but the Supreme Court ruled that the order violated Hamidi's rights.
Specifically, the Supreme Court determined that Intel had failed to prove that the e-mails harmed its property rights, saying Hamidi ``no more invaded Intel's property than does a protester holding a sign or shouting through a bullhorn outside corporate headquarters.''
In dissent, three justices warned that the ruling ignores the reality of the computer age and a company's right to control its property.
The e-mail sent to Intel, the dissenters wrote, ``is more like intruding into a private office mailroom, commandeering the mail cart and dropping off unwanted broadsides on 30,000 desks.''
Hamidi, who was still reviewing the decision, expressed relief at the decision. Intel was also still reviewing the four separate opinions totaling 78 pages."
Contact Howard Mintz at (408) 286-0236 or hmintz@mercurynews.com.
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