Email and Internet Surveillance

Do employees have a right to privacy?

By Andrea Coyle

Central to the privacy debate is whether employers have the right to monitor the content of personal emails and internet sites visited by employees.

Employers have a legitimate interest in monitoring certain employee activities (employers have been successfully sued for the way email has been used by employees in sexual harassment cases for example) but is the risk of email and internet abuse such a great threat to the employer's business that covert surveillance measures are justified? Are less intrusive methods available?

Coyle looks at these issues and the recommendations of the Data Protection Working Party of the EC. The recommendations broadly complement the Guidelines drawn up by the Federal Privacy Commissioner in 2000.

(Employment Law Bulletin; vol. 8, no. 8)