Email and Internet Use Policy at Job & Current Laws Regulating Email and Internet Privacy

Companies have strict internet usage and email policy. The internet policy requires all the employees to use internet solely for the purpose of conducting company business during office hours. The internet can, however, be used to surf other things on the internet during break. During break, no employee is allowed to access pornographic or other immoral and unethical material on the internet. Employees will do their best to avoid malicious programs or websites as they can cause a serious damage to company as hackers can intrude into company’s privacy by gaining an access to company’s passwords and other sensitive data. The company calls for strictly following these rules. In case any employee violates any of these rules, the company will take strict disciplinary action against the culprit which might lead to his/her termination from the job. 

Our company also has rules regulating the email usage of employees. Email can be used for company business only. No employee is allowed to share the confidential information through email without the authorization of his/her supervisor. The company has the right to monitor employee emails sent or received through the company-provided email. 

Current Laws Regulating Email and Internet Privacy 

Since the advent of technology, judiciary has formulated laws regarding email and internet privacy at work. At workplace, if anyone has access to a computer, he/she is said to have a terminal. Employees generally have permission to see what is on any employee’s terminal as the whole network is owned by the company.

Electronic mail or email is not private for employees as the law allows employers to monitor the contents of the emails sent through one’s terminal. The reason for the permission is that the company owns all the terminals and therefore, has the right to see what is going on the company’s terminals. Messages that can be monitored are the ones sent within the company and those sent from company terminals to other companies. This implies that web-based email services like Hotmail and Gmail can also be monitored.

Reasons Companies have Internet and Email Policies    

There can be many reasons that employers have internet usage and email policies. The first and foremost reason is to ensure that employees be productive at work. For example, if employees are given freehand and allowed to do whatever they please on internet, they might pay little attention to the work at hand. This is evident by the fact that workers in America waste 20% of their time on surfing internet and chatting on social networking utilities. Therefore, employers consider it very important to have stringent policies regarding internet and monitoring employees’ activities online.

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