IU staffers face e-mail problems

University Information Technology Services held a panel discussion Wednesday regarding the escalating problem of e-mail privacy. Panel member Fred Cate, distinguished law professor, said postal mail and e-mail are seen differently in the eyes of the law. \n"Opening mail not addressed to you is a crime," Cate said. "Opening e-mail not addressed to you is entertainment."\nThe legislation in question is the Open Records Act, a law intended to disclose all public records to anyone in the state. Since the policy was enacted before e-mail was a prevalent form of communication, there is no provision excluding e-mail from the policy, and because the University servers hold copies of the e-mails, they are considered public record.\nThe consequence is anyone in the state of Indiana can request the e-mails of any state employee -- including IU staff and faculty members. Further, the policy does not exclude personal e-mails, which is the reason some faculty members are upset. \nAssociate University Counsel Beth Cate said although there are no provisions excluding personal e-mails, there are exclusive provisions, such as one excluding student test scores. But Fred Cate, who drew most of the evening's laughs, said that is of little consequence.\n"That's not going to help us a lot," Fred Cate said. "Your e-mail argument with somebody is legal public record, unless you thought to include the test scores."\nThough the faculty members are at risk of leaving their personal e-mails open to the public, students enjoy a safer e-mail experience, Beth Cate said.\nThe Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act states students are exempt from any public record policy, with a few exceptions. And since FERPA is a federal law, it has priority over the ORA, a state policy. Beth Cate said this gives students an advantage faculty members don't enjoy. \n"Students may end up having more protection with respect to just their basic personal e-mail that they send on the University system than I will as a University employee," Beth Cate said.\nChief IT Security and Policy Chief Mark Bruhn explained how e-mail navigates from one computer to another, and reminded faculty members even though they might delete their e-mail copies, the other party might still have a copy, and the e-mail could still be public record. \nFred Cate said this electronic record spelled futility for any faculty member wishing to keep their personal e-mails private.\n"Face it," Fred Cate said. "We're screwed"