The ruling came Tuesday in the case of Ken Hamidi,an Intel Engineerfired in 1995 over unresolved claims of job-related injuries.
Hamidi started a group called Former and Current Employees-Intel, known as Face-Intel, devoted to proving that Intel mistreats its workers.
Intel, a Santa Clara-based producer of microprocessors, says the stories posted on Face-Intel's Web site -- such as blaming Intel for one worker's suicide and accusing the company of running a sweatshop in Malaysia-- are untrue.
Hamidi also has waged a direct e-mail campaign, sending Intel employees messages seven times.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge John R. Lewis granted Intel's request that Hamidi be barred from sending electronic missives to its workers.
Not free speech issue
The company argued that Hamidi's e-mails, sent on separate occasions to as many as 30,000 Intel
employees, were the equivalent of trespassing on the company's private computer system.
Lewis agreed.
"The mere connection of Intel's e-mail system with the Internet does not convert it into a public forum," the judge wrote."The court finds that Hamidi's e-mails are not protected speech."
The Intel vs. Ken Hamidi case gained national attention among First Amendment advocates. Some fear the ruling could significantly restrict the freedom to send e-mail to specific groups of people.
Hamidi said he plans to appeal the decision.
