An ethical opinion.

[Savagegxp]

One of the classesI'm currently taking to get a dual masters and law degree is called Mass Communication Law. Recently I received a very interesting writing topic.

In a theoretical school district a school administrator has recently been forced to step down because she was caught using a school computer to exchange sexually explicit emails with another consenting adult. She is married, he is not. The email were made available by strictly legal means to a local media outlet.The question being, is it ethically permissible to publish the e-mails in a news broadcast? It is legally acceptable.

[Fuzzy]

Ethically no, legally yes.

[Savagegxp]

@fuzzy, elaborate?

[Andimion]

Legally it is in violation of the schools board of education systems. Using any owned school computer that belongs to the board of education itself for personal ad sexual means violates several regulations. I wont touch the marriage subject cause laws in that field vary every where you go.

Ethically, it is still a privacy violation to publicly release that information as well as the emails themselves. It can also tern into a legal issue because of how the emails may be used or shown.

I dont know the laws of the US or even your individual states so you should probably research those particular fields. Its a sketchy subject, but in reality.. That teacher should have just used a personal laptop to do such things, as they are personal property.

[Savagegxp]

I agree on all points, I'm not so interested in the specific legal portions, because as you pointed out its a mess. But ethically I see your point. But do you think she had a reasonable expectation of privacy given she wasn't using a private computer?