mandy

ok, firstly, i'm a journalism student so go easy and please use words i can understand

here we go, i have my own personal email account at the university as do many lecturers and students here. so, it was recently brought to my attention that a few of the lecturers are being watched by email.

the vice chancellor has told THE ONLY SOURCE i have to forward all mail sent only by certain lecturers to all the major news companies here. It has also come to my attention that this is illegal being that it is your personal account and they can't go violating that privilage unless they suspect you're putting the university in disrepute and they should also tell you that your account is being watched? please feel free to correct me.

my source, my only source has told me that i cannot quote him for fear of his job. i need to know, is there any other legal way i can find out if any email accounts are being checked?

i've read through the university disclaimer but i don't know what i'm suppose to be looking for? Here is the disclaimer...

NMMU

ELECTRONIC MAIL DISCLAIMER

1. This email transmission contains confidential information, which is the property of the sender.

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any help on this situation would be greatly appreciated.

thanks alot

__________________
The Imagination equips us to see a reality we have yet to create

Chamaeleontidae

All I can tell you is that in the corporate world what they are doing is not illegal. The email system belongs to the company and they have the right to monitor it. That's why free emails like hotmail & Gmail are nice...

Somewhere in the documentation that your source signed when becomming a student or lecturer, say they own him...

__________________
"Reality is just a crutch for people who can't cope with drugs."
Robin Williams.

feelgood

Yeah but this isn't a corporate world, this is education world which operates on entirely different sets of rules and regulation compared to corporations.

I'm sorry, that particular line doesn't make any sense at all...

But I do agree that somewhere you signed an agreement allowing the university to monitor your e-mail.

__________________
Looking out the window, that's an act of war. Staring at my shoes, that's an act of war. Committing an act of war? Oh you better believe that's an act of war

vanblah

If they are using an email address provided by the institution then the institution is well within its rights to monitor the email.

It's not cool ... but it is legal. As far as POLICY goes that's a different matter. Policies have nothing to do with law however.

The university owns the server ... and therefore, your email account. There's no reason to sign anything.

My suggestion to people concerned about this: get a Hotmail account (or some other free "anonymous" account). Email is not considered "private" anyway.

Also, there's no way to tell if your email is being monitored (unless the administrator is stupid). Depending on what email server the university is using all the email administrator has to do is add the email account to his own or grant rights to the requesting authority -- no password needed.

mandy

thanks guys. really a big help. just to clear up some stuff.

the source i've got, lets call him *andrew. andrew came to me and told me that he was told by the vice chancellor of the university to "keep an eye" on some of the journalism lecturers.(meaning have andrew monitor their email and forward the vice chancellor any mail that was sent by these lecturers to the big news agencies here.)the vice chancellor has it in his head that these lecturers are "out to get him".(for lack of a better phrase.)

hence the question.

but thanks guys, your response really was a great help.

i asked andrew if i were to write a story would i beable to quote him

__________________
The Imagination equips us to see a reality we have yet to create

shakran

What did Andrew say?

Remember when you write that story that you need second source confirmation - you don't know that Andrew doesn't have a vendetta against the vice chancellor.

What are the professors supposedly doing that has them being monitored?

Then you need to weigh whether or not to do anything with the story. So far all you have is a gossip column. Andrew told me that the VC told him that the journalism profs are out to get him. If the university is monitoring their email accounts, is that something that is 1) a crime 2) wrong or 3) of genuine (not purient) interest to the public?

http://splc.org/

Those guys can help you with the legal aspects of the story - and might be able to help you decide whether it is, in fact, a story or not.

Remember that you are in college and that means your readers are almost universally itching for the chance to get riled up against "the system," so be sure whatever you write is legit, rather than simply reactionary incitement

and here's one more thing for you to chew on:

http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

Test your story and your source against those points. . .