Privacy, legislation, and surveillance software

If you work in the private sector, chances are your email is anything but private. Your employer could be part of the growing trend to monitor productivity by using surveillance software. Workplace monitoring is nothing new, but it is on the rise and getting more sophisticated. Monitoring software allows employees to measure and collect all computer activity of their employees.

The American Management Association reported in 2005, that over half of employers store, review or monitor email, files and Internet connections. Most of the employers surveyed by the AMA said they have written policies in place. Still employees violate these policies to shop, surf and download music at work. The temptation of having technology at our fingertips is more than most workers can resist. Employers clearly have the upper hand and workers will remain vulnerable to firings for violation of company policy. In spite of the Electronics Communication Privacy Act (ECPA), employers are well protected from employee privacy claims because they own the technology used by employees and can therefore monitor it at will.

I work in for the State of Washington and therefore, enjoy my Fourth Amendment freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. The rule of thumb at my institution is that it is OK to use technology to take care of personal business, but do it on your own time. Don’t let your computer use get out of control or deter you from performing the functions of your job. I appreciate this attitude of trust very much and try not to abuse the privileges I have. I know the private sector is very different having worked there in the past. Personally, I would not want to work on an employer who was spying on me. However, I think most employers are reasonable about employee checking personal email or calling home to check on the kids so long as the job gets done.

Nord, G., etal (2006) Privacy, legislation, and surveillance software. Computers in society, 14, 68-71. From Communications of the AMC, 49(8), 2006, August pp.73-77.