Interview Findings – Ownership, Privacy and Security

Is your email yours or the Universityfs?

The Universityfs – 81% (55 staff, 26 faculty)

gTechnically [it] belongs to the people of North Carolina.h

gI think it is mine, itfs on their server, but I feel I own it – other files are mine.h

gThe University wants to believe that it is theirs, my sense is that they can claim to go into it at any point.h

gI donft like the university to control my emails at all.h

Now in order to get a feel for people's sense of ownership of their email and other electronic records, we asked [click] "Is your email yours or the University's?" [click] 81% of the respondents agreed that it was the University's, but you'll notice that there were twice as many staff who felt this way as faculty. I think this reinforces the notion that faculty tend to think of themselves as independent contractors and their work as belonging to them rather than to the University. Staff are much more inclined to see themselves strictly as university employees and the work that they do for the university belonging to the university rather than to them personally. [click] Here's a really savvy comment, probably from someone who is familiar with the NC Public Records Law: "Technically [it] belongs to the people of North Carolina." And here's a faculty member who feels that the equipment is the university's, but the files and emails belong to him or her: "I think it is mine, it's on their server, but I feel I own it – other files are mine."

And here's the faculty member who very reluctantly acknowledges that his or her email probably belongs to the University, but is just not quite willing to give it up: "The University wants to believe that it is theirs, my sense is that they can claim to go into it at any point." And then finally there's the faculty member who is totally unwilling to relinquish ownership or control: "I don't like the university to control my emails at all."

So you have these fairly strong feelings about ownership going on here, especially with faculty who are engaged in research. You also have a population that is very aware of the idea of intellectual property and feels that files they're creating belong to them personally rather than being the property of the University or, indeed, the people of North Carolina.