A Paris court ruled yesterday that the French telecommunications
code protects the contents of e-mail messages. It awarded damages
of 10,000 Francs (£910) to a student whose messages were monitored
by his university.03 Nov 2000
According to Agence France-Presse, a judge in a criminal court said that interception of electronic messages is illegal except for clearly defined reasons such as national security. He ordered that the School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry make a payment to the Kuwaiti student and he fined three of its members of staff.
The School said it intercepted the student’s e-mail messages because it suspected he was using the School’s system for personal purposes. Its lawyer argued that once e-mails are entrusted to the internet, they cease to be confidential.
If this case is followed in France, it will represent a different position from that found in the UK. Employers in the UK can monitor their e-mail systems under certain conditions and the DTI and the Data Protection Commission recently issued guidance. However, the government faced criticism because of inconsistencies in the guidelines.