An interesting, and considerable landmark ruling has apparently occured whereby employers who monitor email and Internet usage of their staff are potential breaching European human rights legislation. In the specific case it was ruled that a woman who's public sector employer Carmarthenshire College monitored her in 1999 was a breach of privacy rights resulting in €3,000 in damages and €6,000 in legal costs.
The decision doesn't appear to be blanket though, according the Silicon article, if a company has proper usage policies in place which detail what will be monitored will be alright. However if the acceptable use policy allows the employee the right to send personal communication that would be protected under Human Rights laws. Interesting times for employers me thinks. Even more interesting times for consultants that help draw up acceptable use policies! *ching ching*
4 comments:
It's long been the case that employee surveillance cannot be covert in my understanding. Councils can be sloppy, purely because they breed a culture of thinking they are above the law.
The lawyers will be singing money money money , I thought all this had been sorted , with the accepted usage policy that most companies use,well what one man makes ,another will break, keep going dizzy.
Hasn't this been the case for a long time now? I've always had to sign AU policies before anyone let me at their network.
yes and no. The difference here is that if the AU policy allows employees to use the Internet for personal stuff (even at lunchtime etc) then monitoring may become illegal.
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