Email Privacy

2392 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How does technology threaten or influence privacy

Ethical Management of E-mail Privacy

As I am sitting at my work station in a crowded office building, I hear the wonderful sound of "You've got mail." In turn I open my E-mail mailbox and find a letter from a nearby employee. This letter contains the usual funny joke of the day and a short joke ridiculing the boss, as usual. Who was to know that my supervisor would eventually find this letter, which would lead to both the termination of my job and my fellow employee? Do you feel this is right?

Does this sound common? This may sound common because the issue of E-mail and privacy is very common and controversial in our advanced technological world. The determination of what is ethical or unethical is not simple or straightforward. Employers and employees may have seen the ethical and legal issues associated with E-mail privacy differently. E-mail has become indispensable in the modern=day workplace, more often employers are realizing that E-mail communication systems can increase the efficiency of communications internally. Along with this increase in the use of E-mail come legal issues involving employee privacy and monitoring. The laws addressing an employer's rights to monitor E-mail traffic and employees' rights to E-mail privacy are still evolving (Lyford 28).

After much research, I believe employers should have the right to check employee E-mail, because E-mail is a company resource and a property right. Organizations have an obligation to themselves, their employees, their business partners, customers and society at large to act in an ethically responsible manner regarding their E-mail policies. Companies have many justified reasons for searching employee files such as preventing personal use or abuse of...

... middle of paper ...

...ularity poses workplace privacy problems. Business First, Oct., 1-3.

Rainone, Sebastian M.; Spinior, Janice C.; et al (1998). Ethical Management of Employee E-mail Privacy. Information Strategy Spring , 17(3), 3,7,34.

Repa, Barbara Kate (1999, March 5). Computers and E-mail on the Job: They're. Retrieved June 15, 2006 from, Web site: Http://www.nolo.com/ChunkEMP/computers.html

Richard, Diane (1999, January). E-mail Ethics: Bosses Can Pry if They Want To. Corporate Report-Minnesota, 74-76.

Van Doren, Jeffrey A (1996). E-mail Monitoring Policies- A Must For Employers. Supervisory Management, 5.

Watson, Nathan (2001, December). The private workplace and the proposed "Notice of Electronic Monitoring Act": Is "notice" enough? Retrieved July 9, 2006 from Axia College University of Phoenix, InfoTrac OneFile via Thomson Gale.

Show More
Related

  • HIPAA, CIA, and Safeguards

    1633 Words  | 4 Pages

    Whitman, M., & Mattord, H. (2011). Reading & cases in information security: law & ethics. (2011 custom ed., p. 264). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

    Read More

  • Privacy vs. Security

    1260 Words  | 3 Pages

    Print Lazar, Wendi S. “Limitations to Workplace Privacy: Electronic Investigations and Monitoring” Computer and Internet Lawyer (2012): SIRS. Web. The Web. The Web.

    Read More

  • Privacy in the Workplace

    2466 Words  | 5 Pages

    Employee Monitoring: Is There Privacy in the Workplace? . (6/3/2004)

    Read More

  • She Snoops to Conquer: Surveillance and the Right to Privacy

    1438 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hertenstein, Edward. "Electronic Monitoring in the Workplace: How Arbitrators Have Ruled." Dispute Resolution Journal, 52.4 (1997): 36.

    Read More

  • Workplace Privacy and Employee Monitoring

    1326 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sometimes there is no middle ground. Monitoring of employees at the workplace, either you side with the employees or you believe management owns the network and should call the shots. The purpose of this paper is to tackle whether monitoring an employee is an invasion of privacy. How new technology has made monitoring of employees by employers possible. The unfairness of computerized monitoring software used to watch employees. The employers desire to ensure that the times they are paying for to be spent in their service is indeed being spent that way. Why not to monitor employees, as well as tips on balancing privacy rights of employees at the job.

    Read More

  • Technology and the Invasion of Privacy

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stead, Bette Ann.  Privacy and Rights In The Work Place.  Houston: University of Houston, College of Business Administration, 1998.

    Read More

  • Ethics of Surveillance

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    One type of surveillance is employee monitoring. Many employers monitor their workers’ activities for one reason or another. Companies monitor employees using many methods. They may use access panels that requires employees to identify themselves to control entry to various area in the building, allowing them to create a log of employee movements. They may also use software to monitor attendance and work hours. Additionally, many programs allows companies to monitor activities performed on work computers, inspect employee emails, log keystrokes, etc. An emerging methods of employee monitor also include social network and search engine monitoring. Employers can find out who their employees are associated with, as well as other potentially incriminating information. (Ciocchetti)

    Read More

  • Essay on Internet Privacy - Cookies and Internet Privacy

    1537 Words  | 4 Pages

    Student José Amador likes to use his email account at yahoo.com. "I find paper so obsolete," he says. Amador is not worried about the privacy of this account. Perhaps he and the many other people that use yahoo email should be concerned, however. All users of Yahoo mail are having their actions tracked.

    Read More

  • EMAIL ETIQUETTE

    953 Words  | 2 Pages

    Harris, David. “Electronic Mail Etiquette.” School of Computing. 1997. Queens University 14 July 2003 .

    Read More

  • Drug Testing In The Workplace Essay

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    This paper will discuss not only the rights of the employee in the workplace, but also the company’s obligation to ensure a safe working environment. An employee has the right to privacy in the workplace. However, these rights are fewer at work than in their personal life. There is debate on what is moral, ethical, and legal in regards to monitoring the actions of an employee in the workplace by the employer.

    Read More

  • Ethical Issues in e-Commerce

    1594 Words  | 4 Pages

    Foxman, E. R., & Kilcoyne, P. (n.d.). Information technology, marketing practice, and consumer privacy: ethical issues. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 12(1), 106-119.

    Read More

  • Workplace Surveillance

    486 Words  | 1 Pages

    Making sure that there is no form of violence, harassment, or discrimination occurring at the workplace. However, the focus of this research paper is how electronic surveillance in the workplace is

    Read More

  • Introduction To Monitoring And Monitoring In The Workplace Case Study

    1382 Words  | 3 Pages

    As instructed by our lecture in IT Applications Dr. Larry Stapleton we were given a document entitled monitoring in the workplace. It was based on Blackburn Rovers Football Club who decided to install a software called Spector 360. The product provides company wide monitoring of employees on a day to day basis focused on their high level of internet based activities during the work period. The main purpose of this software is to improve productivity during work hours and reduce risk of exposure for the company. We also bring into consideration our opinion on the issue in question and also query if this method of surveillance is fair to the employees and also morally correct using the case study on Blackburn Rovers as an example for this.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Privacy In The Workplace

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Australia, Employers should implement best practice on how to maintain privacy in the workplace in accordance with the privacy standards set out in the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) (Welcome to the Fair Work Ombudsman website. n.d.). Privacy is able to keep our own personal information private and also able to do things without any electronic monitoring in the workplace. Nowadays, many company increased the usage of technology such as internet and email in the workplace. This can create issues in privacy. When employees’ access to web browsing activities during working hours, the employer can be scrutinized it. Employers take this action due to fear lawsuit if employees act in inappropriate ways. Therefore, the best policy is to explain clearly how is appropriate to use email and internet at work and outline what type of use is prohibited in the workplace. Besides that, employer also needs to ensure the employee didn’t disclose or disseminate any important information to the competitors or

    Read More

  • Computer Crimes Employees Use The Internet At Work

    1407 Words  | 3 Pages

    But, these laws always changing, depending on the work setting or policies set by any specific organizations. Because there are so many different work environments, each claim of privacy has to be evaluated based on the actual conditions of the workplace (Smith & Burg, 2015). This is why policies must be set according to the CEO needs. If the organization does not allow the use of the internet for any personal use, than the employee must follow such guidelines. This eliminates employee privacy right violations, because the policy will informs them of the monitoring during the hiring

    Read More

More about Email Privacy

Open Document