Penn nears decision on e-privacy

A policy requiring notification if officials read e-mail was informally approved by University Council. After months of debate in University Council among faculty, staff, students and administrators, Penn may soon have an official policy governing the privacy of e-mail and other electronic information. A proposed electronic privacy policy was approved informally last month at a Council meeting that lacked a quorum. The proposal -- the third version brought before Council in as many months -- has been put out for public comment by Provost Robert Barchi through June 1. The new policy states that notification will always be made if someone's electronic privacy is violated and it outlines four conditions that must be met before any person's e-mail or computer files can be read by administrators. The four conditions apply to students, faculty and staff members, who had been given differing levels of protection in previous drafts of the policy. If the proposal is accepted, specified University officials will only be able to access a person's files or e-mail without consent if there is a "good faith belief" that doing so is required to comply with the law; if doing so may provide information needed for an investigation of a violation of law or school policy; if doing so is necessary to ensure the integrity of University computing systems; or if doing so may provide information needed to deal with an emergency. In the case of staff members only, a search of electronic data without consent may also take place if it will "yield information that is needed for the ordinary business of the University to proceed." The policy also would require that the person be notified "as soon as practicable" of the involuntary disclosure of information. Previous proposals had stated that students would "ordinarily" be notified when their e-mail was read, but did not guarantee notification. "Except as may otherwise be dictated by legal requirements, individuals will be notified of access to, or disclosure of, the contents of their e-mail, voice mail or their computer accounts as soon as practicable," the newest proposed policy states. Physiology Professor Martin Pring, who headed the effort to create a University-wide policy governing electronic privacy as chairman of Council's Committee on Communications, said that comments made at previous Council meetings this year helped the committee gain concessions from the general counsel's office for stronger policy protections. University attorneys had previously been hesitant to accept some of the stronger proposed protections because of the constraints they would place on the University's ability to act in many situations. "When University Council started asking the same questions [as the committee], it helped our argument considerably," Pring said, calling the latest version of the policy "substantially strengthened" from earlier drafts. Pring said he expects the policy to be approved and take effect this summer unless Barchi receives substantial negative comment before June 1. Because there was no quorum at the meeting, the majority of Council members present gave an informal approval to thepolicy, though several Council members still voiced some objections. On the recommendation of Council, a review of the privacy policy and its effectiveness will be made two years after it takes effect.

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