Email Privacy On Everyone’s Watch
“Invasion of Email is more of a threat today just because so many more people are using Email,” says Phoenix attorney Michael Lechter, a specialist in intellectual property law at Meyer Hendricks Victor Osborn & Maledon.
“It used to be that everything was on paper and tucked away in a drawer someplace,” Lechter says. “Someone browsing through such information is much easier in its electronic form. Sure, there are passwords, but passwords can be broken.”
Another local intellectual property law expert in Phoenix is Sherman Parrett of Snell & Wilmer.
Parrett says, “There are very few Email installations that can’t be invaded by a devious computer hacker. If the system is totally internal to the company, it’s relatively easy to protect it with passwords and levels of access. If you want to interface with outside networks, however, it becomes more difficult.”
Various technological mechanisms can be built into one’s software program that tend to prevent their being copied, Lechter says in his “Intellectual Property Handbook,” published by TechPress Inc., an affiliate of the Meyer Hendricks law firm. These mechanisms can include encryption and non-standard formats.
Lechter writes, “Any physical security mechanism must be capable
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