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Monitoring Employee Email: Possible Legislation

Posted by jamie on from the another-day-older-and-deeper-in-debt dept.

Did you know your company is allowed to secretly monitor your internet and phone usage? ComputerNewsDaily reports that California Governor Gray Davis is considering a bill to stop employers in that state from monitoring employees' email - unless they first warn them in writing. (Strangely, the Governor's office seemed to become aware of the problem when their own secret monitoring caught an employee sending too much email. Stop me before I spy again!)

3 of 5 comments (clear)

  1. E-mail monitoring is big business by Seth+Finkelstein · · Score: 2
    There's a whole bunch of products just trying to cash in. Check out, for example, Message Inspector. Scary stuff.

    - The Boston Lunatic

  2. Ethical / Legal by JM_the_Great · · Score: 2

    First off, let me say that I don't think any half way decent employer would monitor an employees e-mail, telephone, internet usage and whatever else without a reason to believe that he doing anything wrong.

    However, if the employee is using their equipment, on their time, with their money, then, sure they can _legaly_ monitor them. This dosen't make it right, it just makes it legal. It shouldn't be up to the government, it shuld be up to the people.

    One thing I've noticed on slashdot (and everywhere else, for that matter) is that we are opposed to all government involvement, except when it benefits us. The only way we can ever have a truly free country is if the government works for everybody, and the only way to do that is for it to work for nobody.

    That's my $(2^4*3+1/7%3*2/100)

    --

    --Justin Mitchell
    "2nd Place is a fancy word for losing" --Bender (Futurama)
  3. It's an education bill by jflynn · · Score: 2

    There is a real problem that comes from people assuming that the similarity in name between mail and e-mail implies that the same privacy conditions apply. This law essentially mandates educating employees that this is in fact not the case; company e-mail is more like a letter stored in a filing cabinet to which your boss has a key.

    Compared to the price of installing and maintaining the surveillance it seems a reasonable one-time cost. It should keep problems from occurring, as well as merely helping to catch them once they do.

    I think I will still strongly prefer employment by those that don't feel the need to spy on me, but it's a good bill for those without the choice.