What is the current state of the law on privacy in email communications?

Whereas, some may view emails as tantamount to a postal letter which is afforded some level of privacy, this court finds, in general, emails are more akin to a postcard, as they are less secure and can easily be viewed by a passerby. Moreover, emails are easily intercepted, since the technology of receiving an email message from the sender, requires travel through a network, firewall, and service provider before reaching its final destination, which may have its own network, service provider and firewall. An employee who sends an email, be it personal or work related, from a work computer sends an email that will travel through an employer's central computer, which is commonly stored on the employer's server even after it is received and read. Once stored on the server, an employer can easily scan or read all stored emails or data. The same holds true once the email reaches its destination, as it travels through the internet via an internet service provider. Accordingly, this process diminishes an individual's expectation of privacy in email communications. (See, Scott v Beth Israel Medical Ctr, 17 Misc 3d 934 [Sup Ct, New York County 2007][Court, in a civil matter, held that an employer's "no personal use" email policy, combined with the employer's stated policy allowing for email monitoring, diminished any reasonable expectation of privacy an employee may have regarding computer services.]; see also Smyth v. Pillsbury Co. 914 F.Supp 97, 100-01 [ED Pa 1996][finding no expectation of privacy in email communications voluntarily made by an employee over the company email system]).