In terms of Regulations made under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, businesses have lawful authority to monitor their staff for relevant and justifiable specified business purposes provided they have made “all reasonable efforts to inform every person” who may use their system that e-mail or internet use may be intercepted.
OUT-LAW.COM's David Hoey said:
"The specified business purposes include monitoring to detect unauthorised use - which means that staff must know what activities are and are not authorised.
"In the absence of a relevant and justifiable business purpose specified in the Regulations, consent of the sender and recipients is necessary.
"Failure to comply opens the company to the risk of being sued by the sender or intended recipient of any intercepted message or the user of the company’s internet access. There is also a risk of action being taken against the company by the Data Protection Commissioner. Depending on the circumstances, company directors can also find themselves personally liable."
The survey, by law firm KLegal, found that downloading pornography was the main reason for sackings over misuse of internet and e-mail systems. One company in five said it monitors e-mails on a monthly basis while one in ten said it makes daily checks. Over 80% of companies claimed to have internet and e-mail policies.
The report comes as an announcement that three Ford workers have been suspended, apparently for downloading pornography at work.
See our article: Monitoring employee e-mail and internet access in the UK
