No, Your Boss Doesn’t Have Eyes in the Back of His Head : But There’s a Good Chance He’s Reading Your Private E-Mail
Your boss might not be watching you every minute, but there’s a fair chance he’s reading your E-mail, according to a new survey.
About 22% of all employers engage in surveillance of employee computer files, electronic mail files and voice-mail boxes, according to the survey by Macworld magazine released this week. Among companies with more than 1,000 employees, that figure rises to 30%, the survey said.
About 35% of the 301 businesses that responded to the survey (which was sent to 1,000 companies) said it was “never acceptable” to electronically eavesdrop on employees, and only 18% had written policies on electronic privacy.
Many workers unthinkingly assume that messages they send over a company electronic mail system--or even calls from a company telephone--are private. In fact, it’s almost always technically possible and legal for the boss to read or listen in.
For telephone operators and airline reservation agents, monitoring of phone conversations and individual keystrokes on the computer keyboard has long been routine. But such monitoring is now extending to many other types of office work.
Employers said they listened primarily to monitor work flow and investigate theft and commercial espionage.
“I’m not surprised there’s widespread acceptance of electronic surveillance as appropriate management practice,” says Charles Piller, senior associate editor at Macworld. “What is surprising is how infrequently employees know about it. In less then one-third of cases are they warned.”
Though several legal challenges are now underway, the law appears to support employers’ rights to read electronic mail and other electronic documents.
“At this point, workers have very few protections when it comes to the workplace,” says Beth Givens, project director for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse at UC San Diego.
The Macworld survey could help spur an emerging national debate over the issue. Legislation now before Congress would at least require employers to tell employees how their on-the-job activities might be monitored electronically.
