Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!earle
From: earle@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov (Greg Earle (Sun Software))
Newsgroups: comp.admin.policy
Subject: E-mail privacy and "vacation" messages
Message-ID: <1991May31.211508.7023@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov>
Date: 31 May 91 21:15:08 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems - JPL on-site Software Support
Lines: 46

I would like to get the opinions of Sys Admins on the following scenario:

You work for company XYZ.  XYZ has an explicit policy that says that reading
another employee's e-mail is considered Gross Misconduct, punishable by
immediate termination.

One of the users on your system(s) goes on vacation, and sets up a "vacation"
message to automatically reply to e-mail.  As we all know, the "normal" format
is something like

	From: joeuser (via the vacation program)
	Subject: Away from my mail

	I will be out of the office for N days(/weeks/months).
	Your mail concerning "$SUBJECT" will be read when I return.

Now, consider the following.  What if the user instead had a message like

	I am out of the office for N weeks.  I'm stressed out and I can't
	handle being around all these annoying (insert appropriate term,
	like "Jews" or "Niggers" or some other potentially-offensive
	epithet).  Your mail concerning "$SUBJECT" will be read ...

or, perhaps not so blatant or milder,

	I am out of the office until <Date>.  I was suspended by XYZ for
	being a bad boy/girl and am being punished.  Your mail concerning ...

Someone receives this "vacation" message and contacts Joe User's boss about it.
Joe User's boss contacts you and demands that you change the .vacation.msg file
to remove anything which does not say "I am out of the office until ..." or
"Your mail concerning ...".

Food for thought:
- Do you do what Joe User's boss demands?  Do you change it, and then deny
  responsibility because you were merely acting as an agent for Joe User's boss
  (whether you agree in principle with changing the message or not)?

- What happens if Joe User returns, finds his .vacation.msg tampered with, and
  demands that heads roll due to the company policy of not allowing anyone to
  read other people's e-mail?  What if Joe User claims that the .vacation.msg
  file is directly related to e-mail, and therefore tampering with it without
  his knowledge is morally/ethically equivalent to reading his e-mail?

[Please followup to comp.admin.policy rather than e-mail, as I don't get mail]
[on this machine.  Thanks.]