The Electronic Communications Act of 1986: This is an amendment to the federal wiretap statute that limits a company's legal ability to intercept an electronic message.  This law, however, does not really address the e-mail-related dilemmas that arise because technically, e-mail is not "intercepted".⁹   Following the privacy regulations and policies of the U.S., it is not legal to intercept:

"in any manner whatsoever, any telephone communication transmitted or received between any points within the jurisdiction of Puerto Rico, for the purpose of learning its contents or permitting any other person to learn its contents." ¹⁶

The interception, recording, disclosure, publication, or improper use of a private-verbal communication is also considered illegal in Puerto Rico.  Fines of $5,000+ and 3+ years in prison punish the violation of any of these. ¹⁶

   Assuming that in this area Puerto Rico mimics the ideals and policies that are implemented in the United States, employees of a company would not be protected under the argument of privacy when communicating over e-mail through the company network.  This conclusion is based on Smyth vs. Pillsbury Co.⁹ Similarly to the United States, the use of a growing number of "new" technologies in Puerto Rico is likely to be, "raising privacy questions faster than courts can answer them."  The courts are not providing clear judgments when it comes to privacy in the workplace related to the use of e-mail.  One thing is clear, however, and that is that," In most disputes over worker e-mail, computer hard drives and Internet usage, employers are winning."⁹
   Puerto Rican employees should not expect to have privacy in the workplace in so far as they work in a common work area.  In Vega-Rodriguez v. Puerto Rico Telephone Co.:

"a federal appeal court held that government workers at a telephone company in Puerto Rico had no expectation of privacy while working in an office area that they shared with other workers."⁹

   One of the key points of this quote is the idea of an "expectation of privacy".  This refers to the fact that an intrusion on personal privacy can only implicate the Fourth Amendment (right of the people to be secure in their persons... against unreasonable searches) if, " the challenged conduct infringes upon some reasonable expectation of privacy." ¹⁴ Companies operating in Puerto Rico who want to be sure to mitigate their liability in any privacy related dispute should establish a policy and give notice of it to employees.⁹

The "Las Carpetas" Scandal: An estimated 1.8 million pages of documentation was compiled of Puerto Rican's who supported the idea of an independence movement.  The documents gathered information on an estimated 113,000 people who were spied on due to their personal beliefs. ^C Under the auspices of the Police Intelligence Unit of Puerto Rico, all individuals who believed in, or were thought to be connected to, the independence movement were spied on.¹⁵

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