Employers can, in most cases, monitor employee email. The problem is, that’s a time-consuming chore. Unless litigation ensues (or is threatened), most employers would rather spend their time doing something more productive.

At it’s best, the system could be helpful in minimizing e-discovery traps. We’ve seen story after story about someone saying something stupid in an email, only to later have that email pop up in court. This would presumably minimize smoking-gun emails. And, of course, employees could always handle their personal and sensitive communications through personal email accounts on their smartphones.

At it’s worst, Huffington suggests that it could be used by authoritarian dictatorships to censor subversive communications. The patented software apparently can be used in nearly any Internet-connected device, including smartphones, televisions, and regular old-fashioned PCs. It certainly seems plausible.

One creepy step further would use increasingly-accurate voice recognition. Google Now can already translate your voice into search inquiries (i.e. “Google, what time is the Lakers’ game on tonight?”). One can only imagine how far a combination of the two technologies could go.

Google spokesman Matt Kallman issued a response to the minor uproar over the patent:

Thanks Matt, we feel better now.

“We file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don’t. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patent applications.”

Related Resources:

  • What Tech WAS in Your Briefcase? What’s in it Now? (FindLaw’s Technologist)
  • Want Data Privacy For Your Email, ISP, Social Media? Ask the EFF (FindLaw’s Technologist)
  • Should You Be Scared of FBI Spyware? (FindLaw’s Technologist)

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