Question

A restaurant employee, Brian Pietrylo, created a private My Space forum to vent about work. The site was full of personal information ---about illegal drug use, for example---and contained sexual comments about the restaurant's customers and managers. One of the members of the Myspace group was a hostess at the restaurant. She showed the site to a manager. Another one of the restaurant's managers then asked her to divulge her login and password so that management could access the group directly. The hostess complied. Brian and another employee were fired. In the ensuing lawsuit, they argued that their privacy and another employee were fired. In the ensuing lawsuit, they argued that their privacy was violated under the ECPA statute and under tort law. At the trial, the hostess testified that she felt under pressure to give her password up to management. When asked whether she felt that something would happen to her if she did not, she answered "I felt that I probably would have gotten in trouble." Do you think the terminated employees would win? Find out. Research: Pietrylo v Hillstone Restaurant Group, a 2009 New Jersey case.

Discusses the research(Privacy and Technology) you have done and answers the question(s) posed in the assignment. ?at least 300 words?

Answer 1

Any company or organization who would be found to get hold of user id and password of any employee using “questionable means” would be definitely held liable for violations of Stored Communications Act and the statute of electronic surveillance. In this particular case few employees had formed an online group for basically venting their feelings about the employer and thr employer on getting the logon credentials from another co-worker go on to fire these employees. The basic question which ultimately decides the conclusion is whether the employer has been able to get the logon credentials using any threat or coercive methods.

In this case the employee testified that she was under pressure to give up on the password to managers so that they can access the online group and if she would not have given, then something might have happened to her. This testimony would be sufficient enough to create a doubt in the mind of jury members and also the court would sidee with this opinion that the password was obtained under coercion.

In general the employer should have tried to get the password from the employees concerned directly instead of approaching another coworker. This would have then removed the chances of a coercive behaviour.

Under the present circumstances of the case, since the password was obtained under questionable circumstances and since the site did not have anything which undermines the business interesrs of the company apart from rants of employees, the terminated employees should win the lawsuit.