European Court Rules Companies Must Tell Employees of Email Checks (reuters.com)

Companies must tell employees in advance if their work email accounts are being monitored and such checks must not unduly infringe workers' privacy, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday. From a report: In a judgment in the case of a man fired 10 years ago for using a work messaging account to communicate with his family, the judges found that Romanian courts failed to protect Bogdan Barbulescu's private correspondence because his employer had not given him prior notice it was monitoring his communications. Email privacy has become a hotly contested issue as more people use work addresses for personal correspondence even as employers demand the right to monitor email and computer usage to ensure staff use work email appropriately. Courts in general have sided with employers on this issue.

Comments

I work in IT

[Martin S.]

So I'm going to assume they can and will read anything I do at work and act accordingly.

Pit it in writing ...

[CaptainDork]

... in a Technology Administrator Policy and designate an administrator.

I'm retired now, and when I hired on at a law firm 20 years ago, I wrote that policy and amended it as things changed.

I blocked shit like match.com, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

I listed taboos like using business email for non-business purposes and I stated clearly that, at the direction of the partners, I would be monitoring emails, browser history, etc.

For each and every new hire, I read the Policy to them in the kitchen area and invited them to ask question then, and at any other time during their employment.

The last page had a place for two signatures/dates:

- Theirs, acknowledging that they participated in the counseling

- Mine, acknowledging same.

I got a few calls regarding wrongful termination during the years and, in one matter, the fired employee said, "Well, everyone else was doing it."

I told the work comp lady to add, "Line item 6.1.a, 'Report any violations or suspected violations of this policy to the Technology Administrator."

Re:Pit it in writing ...

[Kjella]

I got a few calls regarding wrongful termination during the years and, in one matter, the fired employee said, "Well, everyone else was doing it."

I told the work comp lady to add, "Line item 6.1.a, 'Report any violations or suspected violations of this policy to the Technology Administrator."

So assuming he wasn't exaggerating you amended a policy nobody followed with another over-the-top rule for them to ignore, brilliant. I've read a few policies like that, in theory they're great. In practice nobody knows, because they're so anal the only real purpose they serve is as legal ammunition against troublesome employees. For example I read my organization's phone application guidelines, install any non-IT approved app and you take full legal liability for any damage it can cause. Meanwhile using it as your personal phone too is encouraged and 95%+ do exactly that, nobody bats an eye at installing anything. It's only there because if shit hits the fan they can throw you to the wolves and blame you for violating policy.

Re:Pit it in writing ...

[AmiMoJo]

That sounds like a horrible, Orwellian place to work.

Did you give employees laptops and phones for travel? Did they routinely turn them off to prevent you activating the camera/microphone and carry a second personal laptop?

It really sounds like an awful way to live. I wouldn't work at such a place, I'd only go somewhere that doesn't routinely spy on me and largely doesn't care as long as I get stuff done. Even if I didn't care about privacy, I'd assume it was a sign that there were other serious problems with the management style and working environment.

Invitation To Theft

[forkfail]

As soon as it becomes impossible for an organization to maintain complete control of the communications on it's own networks, connections to other networks, and data transfers to and from those external networks, you have given carte blance to those who would steal company secrets, data, and technology.

This is insane. Folks have cell phones that they don't have to put on corporate/company networks. Use that for personal.