ic surveillance at work has increased from approximately 8 million in 1990 to more than 20 million in 1996.Nearly 60% of companies that monitor e-mail or other employee communications conceal doing so.Less than 20% of companies have a written policy on electronic monitoring.One of the major areas affected by this new technology is corporate America. Not only is it struggling with how to keep pace with the growing need for fast and efficient e-mail, but also the dangers associated with it. Among these dangers is privacy, in particular, what legal rights corporations and employees have in keeping their communications private. This paper will introduce the current legislation in this area, the expectation of privacy an employee should have, any court decisions that provide additional ruling, and what a corporation can do to prevent litigation in these matters.II.Employees Expectation of Privacy in e-mailAs an e-mail systems manager, I was under the impression that since the company owns the electronic messaging system, the company could view the contents of any employees e-mail account at any time. I was only partially right. The explanation of the current law will describe this in detail, but, the employee does have a certain right to privacy where e-mail is concerned. Arguably, a company's most valuable asset is it's data. In the age of technological marvels, it is easier to create more valuable data and, on the other hand, that data is more easily retrievable, especially by persons not authorized to obtain the data. Employees of companies can expect a certain right of privacy granted by three main sources: (1) The United States Constitution; (2) Federal Statutes (The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986); and (3) State Statutes (many of which have not addressed the issue).The United States Constitution provides a limited group of employees with privacy safeguards. The safeguards are based on guarantees in the United St...
