Re: Oklahoma University: Is this legal?...

[sethf@MIT.EDU]

	Going on my past experiences with this sort of situation, I
think the problem is

	a) Oklahoma University is public (seems true from
http://www.uoknor.edu/) 

	b) The state of Oklahoma has an "open public records" law

	so

	c) someone decided that everything stored on the University's
computer system was therefore a "public record" (since the computer is
"owned" by the public), and thus had to be accessible by law.

	This seems to be approximately what's going on:

	"Drafted by Associate Chief Counsel Kurt Ockershauser a year
ago, the policy will make a legal statement that e-mail is running on
state property, Colaw said. He said the policy is not an invasion of privacy."

http://www.uoknor.edu/okdaily/issues/fall1995/dec-7/1-email.processed.html

	Someone needs to explain to him that what he is doing is not
legally required, and perhaps violates the ECPA.

================
Seth Finkelstein
sethf@mit.edu