United States Supreme Court Hears Argument on Expectation of Privacy as to Text Messages on Work Pager
Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Co., 529 F.3d 892 (9th Cir. 2008); City of Ontario v. Quon (08-1332)
In the summer of 2008, the Ninth Circuit held that a city employee had a reasonable expectation of privacy as to personal text-messages sent from his city-issued and city-owned text-messaging pager (‘pager”). The court further ruled that the employee’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated when his supervisor read those text messages, after requesting transcripts from the service provider. The city has appealed the court’s findings to the United States Supreme Court and oral arguments were heard on Monday, April 19th. An opinion is expected in June, 2010.