A Two-Sided Argument! (email privacy)

Member Name: Technical Tobes

Product:	email privacy
Date:	05/11/00 (145 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None! Ok, can help fight crime

Disadvantages: Invasion of privacy

Firstly, I would like to state my opinion on this subject up front…
Reading other peoples email is WRONG, it is a blatant invasion of privacy, whether at work or at home. An email is a letter, albeit it in electronic form, and you would certainly not want someone going through your letters.
Reading other peoples email should be handled like tapping telephone lines, or opening normal mail, i.e. must only be done when formal investigations have been initiated and appropriate authorisation has been given.
In this respect, I am not against the government being able to intercept & read email as well as internet use, since this follows on naturally with all other forms of communication.
Allowing companies to read your email is going one step to far.

Now, I’ve been working in the IT industry for many years now and have administered and installed email & internet systems amongst others, here’s a few interesting facts that you may not realise…
1. The ability to read your email before you get it and unnoticed has always been available (on any email server), also, it’s untraceable – i.e. you would never know if someone had.
2. If you have internet access at work, there is a very high probability that your company keeps a log of every site that you go to, complete with times & durations etc. NOTE: It is not possible (without considerable time & expense) to record any, for example, banking activities, only the fact that you have been there is recorded.
3. There is a high chance your company has the ability to watch every thing that happens on your computer screen remotely without your knowledge.
4. Your companies telephone system is probably monitored – to the extent that a log of all calls out and possibly in coming calls are recorded, not the actual voice conversation but the time, number & duration.
Every company I have worked for has all of the above abilities, although will not make
it public to it’s employees, and all have used at least one of them as evidence for displinary action or dismissal, here’s some examples…
- One employee was sacked for excessive internet use – he/she was clocking up over 4 hours a day browsing the internet & downloaded a total of 4GB of games, mp3’s etc. A log was presented as evidence and the employee shown the door.
- Another employee was sacked because he/she was caught writing a book on the companies PC in company time! The MD watched remotely as he/she typed, took a screenshot and made a surprise and final visit to the employee. Unfortunatley, we didn’t have time to wait for the ending!
Now, in neither case was this done before the employee was under suspicion; in both cases other employees had reported the gross misuse of resources first, although in the case of the Internet abuse, we were aware and a written warning was given prior to the report and in confidence.
This does paint a clear picture though, why companies feel the need for the above kind of measures as this kind of time misuse costs a lot of money.
Bearing in mind all of the above, I think it is clear that companies should have the ‘ability’ to use the above 4 (and other) methods, BUT, only if the user is under suspicion and has been given a prior warning on their alleged activity. Reading an employees email should be done as a last resort and only in serious disciplinary cases, the user should also be notified and be given the opportunity to be present.
Internet usage and non-voice telephone monitoring is less of a problem as it is purely monitoring & does not actually evade your privacy.
I still believe this to be a very grey and dangerous area given the fact that it is relatively easy for, even the most basic user, to ‘fake’ your identity using email, and much harder to verify the real source of an email – particularly if email forwarding is emp
loyed.

As for the government, well it goes without saying that they should have the ability to read emails, even encrypted email as this is and will become a major tool for catching criminals, who after all, now have the entire world easily accessible to carry out their activities. And in any case, they would still do it even if they said they weren’t!

As a final point, please bear in mind the following points…
1. A company with email requirements great enough to require a dedicated email server will have far to many emails sent & received to be able to read, even if someone was hired fulltime! A company not big enough for this, won’t have the ability anyway. Suspicion attracts!!
2. The above point can be multiplied up many billions when it comes to your home private email, the government will have enough trouble tracking down any suspicious emails even if they know they exist, who sent them etc – they simply won’t have time to look at yours!
3. All company email should have a disclaimer on attached to the email when it goes out, thus protecting them against potential libellous comments etc. If not, they have only themselves to blame!

I think that, in this day & age, communication should be regarded as a human right, whether written or vocal. Either way, it should be treated as private & confidential. After all, if you want other people to know, you can cc them in!
I don’t think companies can realistically impose rules, as some try, to prevent you using the companies telephone or email system for private use, it is simply not workable. This said, the ability to stop those who abuse this, should be in place (since it already is) but should be strictly regulated.

Once again, it’s a case of the few spoiling it for the rest and forcing companies to clamp down heavily on internet and email use. Already, many companies are looking into systems to limit this use to busi
ness only. I would have to agree that if a company does want to stop the problem that is the way to go, opening up the law to legalise invasions of privacy is not the right solution.


Hope all this has enlightened you, or at least made you think!

Thanks for reading,
Tobes

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