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Back to List of Legal Questions Question: An adult patron in a public library is suspected of accessing child pornography sites from the Internet stations. He has set up toggle switch to hide his activity, but library staff are aware of what he looks at by checking his site pathway after he leaves. The question is: Has the library staff done anything illegal by checking his activity in this manner?

Encyclopedic Resources:

1. Black's Law Dictionary Selected terms
   • Privacy, right of
   • Surveillance
   • Eavesdropping
2. Cal Jur 3d Selected topics - Criminal Law
   • 1983 - Electronic eavesdropping
   • 1984 - Interception by law enforcement officers
   • 1985 - Recording of communication by party
3. ALR annotation (24 ALR 1208) Topic - Surveillance by people other than law enforcement officers

West's Annotated California Code Sections -

1. Wiretapping (Cal. Pen. Code 631)
2. Eavesdropping on or recording confidential communication (Cal.Pen. Code 632)
3. Disclosure of telegraphic or telephonic message; punishment; exception (Cal. Pen. Code 637)

1. Rogers v. Ulrich (1975) 52 Cal App 3d 894, 125 Cal Rptr 306
2. People v. Soles (1977) 68 Cal App 3d 418, 136 Cal Rptr 328
3. People v. Pederson (1978) 86 Cal App 3d 987, 150 Cal Rptr 577
4. People v. Wyrich 77 Cal App 3d 903, 144 Cal Rptr 38
5. Olsen v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County (1976) 63 Cal App 3d 188, 133 Cal Rptr 573
6. U.S. v. Chiavola (1984) 744 F2d. 1271 (* Cases 1-3 refer to where surveillance by non-law enforcement individuals was permissible. Cases 4-6 refer to where it was not.)

1. The Right to Privacy, 4 Harv. L. Rev. 193 (Warren and Brandeis)
2. Wiretapping and Eavesdropping, 18 Hast. L.J. 59 (Francis C. Sullivan)
3. Eavesdropping and the Law, 46 A.B.A.J. 263 (Anthony P. Salavarese, Jr.)
4. Cyber-porn obscenity: the viability of local community standards and the federal venue rules in the computer network age. 15 Loy.L.A.Ent.L.J. 415 (Joanna H. Kim)

Back to List of Legal QuestionsLast Updated: October 15, 1998