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E-Mail Privacy In The Workplace 2
- Thread starter osceolamo
- Start date
I'm not sure how legal it is, but from what I've read, it depends on how your company's email policy is written. Most of them say that any all email on company time and computers belong to the company. So I guess they can delete it is they want to.
Bob
What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
Bob
Bob
What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
Bob
fredericofonseca
IS-IT--Management
and how do you know that someone deleted the email. And how would you prove it?
It could have been recalled from the sender and you would not be aware of it (some systems allow this). Are you sure this was not the case?
Regards
Frederico Fonseca
SysSoft Integrated Ltd
It could have been recalled from the sender and you would not be aware of it (some systems allow this). Are you sure this was not the case?
Regards
Frederico Fonseca
SysSoft Integrated Ltd
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- #4
Depends where you are, I'm fairly sure that in Europe it would contravene the EU Human Rights Directive which over-rides local law (except for certain exceptions.....).
First thing I'd check, what (if anything) did you sign regarding the company email policy. Next, what is the local/national law, generally you can't sign away your legal rights.
Rosie
First thing I'd check, what (if anything) did you sign regarding the company email policy. Next, what is the local/national law, generally you can't sign away your legal rights.
Rosie
As far as I'm aware in the Netherlands (which would probably mean that it's the same in most of Europe but says little if anything about the US), the only situation in which the employer can do that is if it's an explicit part of a policy you've been forced to read and agree to. All such policies I've seen thus far - one at college and two at different companies - all allow this kind of E-mail monitoring and handling if there is "reasonable suspicion of abuse"; only problem is that the boss probably gets to define what reasonable means.
"Much that I bound, I could not free. Much that I freed returned to me."
(Lee Wilson Dodd)
"Much that I bound, I could not free. Much that I freed returned to me."
(Lee Wilson Dodd)
Not in Europe....
The European Convention on Human Rights
ARTICLE 8
1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
This has been interpreted as including private correspondence at work, including emails. An interesting document is:
EU Data Protection Working Party's document titled 'On the surveillance of electronic communications in the workplace'.
The European Convention on Human Rights
ARTICLE 8
1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
This has been interpreted as including private correspondence at work, including emails. An interesting document is:
EU Data Protection Working Party's document titled 'On the surveillance of electronic communications in the workplace'.
fredericofonseca
IS-IT--Management
There are legal ways of preventing private use of e-mail at work, but most imply a lot of work to a department in charge of monitoring it, and is not normally feasible to do.
If private email is not allowed then is is up to the employee to prove that an email he/she is sending/receiving is work related. If all emails that are not part of an aproved domain/list of emails is received then it can legally be blocked, and a message can be send to the destinataire asking why a particular email is being received. Same for emails been sent.
If the explanation from the employee is not accepted then the email can be deleted from the server without being read, thus without affecting the privacy of the employee.
As I said this is not normmally feasible, but in most "bigish" companies only a very small set of users need to receive/send email from/to third parties, so it could be done.
Regards
Frederico Fonseca
SysSoft Integrated Ltd
If private email is not allowed then is is up to the employee to prove that an email he/she is sending/receiving is work related. If all emails that are not part of an aproved domain/list of emails is received then it can legally be blocked, and a message can be send to the destinataire asking why a particular email is being received. Same for emails been sent.
If the explanation from the employee is not accepted then the email can be deleted from the server without being read, thus without affecting the privacy of the employee.
As I said this is not normmally feasible, but in most "bigish" companies only a very small set of users need to receive/send email from/to third parties, so it could be done.
Regards
Frederico Fonseca
SysSoft Integrated Ltd
Stevehewitt
IS-IT--Management
Unfortunatly this does seem to be a grey area - although from what I have read it tends to lean on the side of the employee (with the right to communication / freedom of speech etc.)
Its legislation gone mad. The employee can use his / her mobile or if required can use company phones to speak to family / friends in an emergency. The company pays for communication, therefore IMHO its up to the company who uses it for what purposes.
Its legislation gone mad. The employee can use his / her mobile or if required can use company phones to speak to family / friends in an emergency. The company pays for communication, therefore IMHO its up to the company who uses it for what purposes.
Saying "legislation gone mad" implies it was sane in the first place. Really?
Law gives you rights, but you are likely to have to sign these away to get a decent job, or any job at all. This seems fine to lawyers and legislators, who control their own working conditions.
I do also think that an employer has a right to be sure you are not spending time on private matters when you should be working. This is mostly obvious when you are phoning, not so when e-mailing.
Where I work, there are pay phones that you can use when you do have something private. Maybe a private paid-for link that employees can use when they have a need, but it can not be confused with work.
Law gives you rights, but you are likely to have to sign these away to get a decent job, or any job at all. This seems fine to lawyers and legislators, who control their own working conditions.
I do also think that an employer has a right to be sure you are not spending time on private matters when you should be working. This is mostly obvious when you are phoning, not so when e-mailing.
Where I work, there are pay phones that you can use when you do have something private. Maybe a private paid-for link that employees can use when they have a need, but it can not be confused with work.
This particular piece of legislation handles some fairly fundamental subjects with a VERY broad brush, the interesting thing will be to see how it's interpreted by the courts.
Everything I've read; press, legal opinion etc. suggests that it is open to some (probably) unanticipated interpretations, ie if your company gives you access, you have a right to make reasonable personal use of it, with an expectation of privacy regarding that use.
Doesn't matter what you sign to get a job, if it's a right, it remains a right.
This should keep a lot of lawyers profitably employed for years....
Everything I've read; press, legal opinion etc. suggests that it is open to some (probably) unanticipated interpretations, ie if your company gives you access, you have a right to make reasonable personal use of it, with an expectation of privacy regarding that use.
Doesn't matter what you sign to get a job, if it's a right, it remains a right.
This should keep a lot of lawyers profitably employed for years....
We would have to know about which country you actually live in. countries have very different privacy laws, and on top of that, whatever you would have signed as a contract when you got your job would be analysed before we could even start to give you an answer.
Stevehewitt
IS-IT--Management
Just a general query regarding this stuff:
Does a contracts legal position stay the same if the user doesn't sign it, but agrees to it by clicking a button before logging on.
I have a 4 page IT Conditions of Usage contract which employees all have a copy of. At the logon screen there is a message box saying that by clicking OK you confirm that you have read the IT Conditions of Usage and accecpt them fully.
Is this the same as having it signed on paper?
Steve.
Does a contracts legal position stay the same if the user doesn't sign it, but agrees to it by clicking a button before logging on.
I have a 4 page IT Conditions of Usage contract which employees all have a copy of. At the logon screen there is a message box saying that by clicking OK you confirm that you have read the IT Conditions of Usage and accecpt them fully.
Is this the same as having it signed on paper?
Steve.
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