In a typical workplace (North America), it is accepted that all communications through your work email are not personal property, and can be accessed by managers, IT department etc. Is this also true for graduate students? Assuming the student works in an university or research institute, the IT department obviously will have access to all emails. Does this also hold for advisors/supervisors? Are they allowed to, or typically have access to student emails?
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I don't think so. Is this something that's happening to you or someone you know?– DrecateCommented Jan 15, 2017 at 2:38
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2In public universities in the United States, some emails can be subject to federal or state "sunshine" laws e.g. Freedom of Information Act. I assume you're not referring to that kind of disclosure?– ff524Commented Jan 15, 2017 at 2:47
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I am not an expert on this by any means, but I did come across this: blog.internetcases.com/2011/08/11/…– aparente001Commented Jan 15, 2017 at 7:22
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10Apart from the legal angle, which I am not qualified to answer, I can certainly say that an environment where this becomes an actual question sounds highly toxic to me.– xLeitixCommented Jan 15, 2017 at 8:28
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4In a technical legal sense, in a public university it's quite possible that not only your advisor, but anyone else, is allowed to read your work emails. In a practical sense, any attempt by the public or by your advisor to exercise such a right would be very likely to stir up a huge scandal and to not succeed.– Dan RomikCommented Jan 15, 2017 at 17:41
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2 Answers
What is the method of the email access? If it is provided through the university or accessed on a university-provided computer, then it may be the case that they have a legal right to those contents. This was the case at at least one of my workplaces in the USA. If you are using your own email address, and your own computer, then I don't see how they could have the rights to access it.
Either way, it is best to have a separate email for all personal/private communication rather than risk it on your school email.
answered Jan 15, 2017 at 16:23
This may depend but I believe in most cases the default answer is "no", unless there is some legal dispute or some sort of official reason. There are exceptions but my impression is that these you would know up front, i.e. there would be an induction meeting where privacy and/or secrecy rules are explained.