Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!mailrus!iuvax!bsu-cs!dhesi
From: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi)
Newsgroups: news.sysadmin
Subject: Re: Privacy of computer files...
Summary: aerial search
Message-ID: <4746@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Date: 14 Nov 88 12:50:26 GMT
References: <183@gloom.UUCP> <1988Nov11.180920.21736@utzoo.uucp>
Reply-To: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi)
Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana
Lines: 9

For a sysadmin to look through a user's files is somewhat similar to a
law-enforcement officer putting on a pair of magic x-ray vision
glasses.  The intrusion is then psychological, not physical.

I see no direct legal precedent for this.  But aerial surveys over land
for the purpose of ferreting out marijuana are legal in the USA, even
though they violate the farmer's privacy.
-- 
Rahul Dhesi         UUCP:  <backbones>!{iuvax,pur-ee}!bsu-cs!dhesi