Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Co., Inc. (9th Cir. 2008)
Articles Discussing Case:
U.S. Supreme Court to Review Text Messaging Case.
Ford & Harrison LLP • January 29, 2010
For the first time, the U.S. Supreme Court will address the rights of employers to review text messages sent by and to employees on employer-provided equipment. See Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Co., Inc. (9th Cir. 2008), cert. granted, 12/14/09. In Quon, the Ninth Circuit held that the City of Ontario violated a city employee's Fourth Amendment privacy rights when it read the employee's text messages. The messages were sent by the employee (a police officer and member of the city's SWAT team) from a text-messaging pager purchased and provided by the city and were stored by an outside service provider.
