By David J. Cieslak
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 23, 1998

New policy implemented for e-mail accounts

Those password-protected e-mail love letters or electronic gripes about your English professor may not be as private as you think.

A new policy for all University of Arizona e-mail users tells students, faculty and staff although they must sign in and use a password to access their accounts, e-mail messages are public documents and can be accessed by subpoena or if there is a "reasonable suspicion that violations of law or university policy have occurred."

Linda Drew, principal computing manager for CCIT user support, said that although deleting a message usually means it disappears, saved messages in personal account folders can be obtained by the university.

"Because this is a state organization, records are public and can be released through legal means," Drew said. "What you wrote and stored might end up being retrieved if someone comes with a subpoena."

Beyond legal means of e-mail retrieval, the policy, implemented by the UA records management and archives department, warns users that their privacy could be infringed upon by other people.

The document states, "users should exercise extreme caution in using e-mail to communicate confidential or sensitive matters, and should not assume that their e-mail is private or confidential."

The new policy, which is available for public inspection on the World Wide Web at http://fsosvr.arizona.edu/records/policy.htm, also lays down the law about system misuse.

CCIT managers compare e-mail with U.S. mail, since many of the same laws apply regarding harassment, threats and pornography.

The policy is also trying to stop people from participating in minor offenses on their e-mail systems that become major problems.

Sending or forwarding chain letters is illegal through e-mail, just as it is through the post office. Also, the policy explains that "spamming," the widespread distribution of junk mail, is unlawful.

Technically, no one is supposed to use university e-mail accounts for personal use, but Drew said the policy's rules are not always steadfast.

"If you want to e-mail your dad, that's fine," Drew said. "This is an educational environment and we want to foster community."

Dan Roman, network operations manager for CCIT Telecommunications, said people need to understand the demand for the UA's computer resources.

"Everyone has to cooperate together to use them in a productive fashion," Roman said.