Cybersecurity Surveillance Program Doesn't Breach Employee Privacy

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Cybersecurity Plan Doesn't Breach Employee Privacy, Administration Says

The Obama administration has agreed with its predecessor that a special surveillance program to monitor federal Internet traffic for malicious intrusions does not violate the privacy rights of government employees or others they communicate with.

By notifying government employees logging on to their computers that they have "no reasonable expectation of privacy" while using the network, the government's Einstein 2 program is lawful, according to an Aug. 14 Justice Department memo that was released Friday.

That applies to a private citizen who, say, sends an e-mail to a government employee -- even to the employee's private account if he or she opens it at work, wrote David J. Barron, acting assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel.