WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court had a common-sense message Thursday for workers with cellphones and other gadgets provided by their employers: Use your own cellphone if you have something to text that you don’t want your boss to read.
The justices unanimously upheld a police department’s search of an officer’s personal and explicit messages on a government-owned pager, saying the search did not violate his constitutional rights.
The court did not lay down any broad rules about the privacy of workplace electronic communications. But the opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy did make clear that governments can check to be sure their employees are following the rules.
The case grew out of a search of messages sent by an Ontario, Calif., police sergeant, Jeff Quon. In one month, Quon sent or received 456 messages during work. Nearly 400 were personal. The Associated Press
