Employers gain e-snoop powers

Tuesday, 24 October, 2000, 01:12 GMT

URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_987000/987557.stm

              Workers may find their surfing habits under scrutiny

              New regulations giving employers sweeping

              powers to monitor their workers' e-mails and

              internet activity come into force on Tuesday.

              But campaigners say the rules, under the new

              Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, are an

              assault on personal privacy.

              Under the regulations, employers can legally

              monitor staff phone calls, e-mails and internet

              activity without consent, for a wide range of

              reasons.

              They can intercept

              communications to

              protect against

              computer viruses, to

              monitor how staff deal

              with customers, and to

              ensure workers are not

              using the internet to

              access offensive

              material.

              When the government first proposed new

              regulations, the business community

              complained that they were far too restrictive.

              After fierce lobbying, employers were given

              wider powers, and the unions warned that

              privacy was under threat.

              There is also concern

              that the rules conflict

              with a new Data

              Protection Code, which

              threatens employers

              with unlimited fines if

              they read private

              e-mails.

              Monitoring staff is not new. Until the advent of

              automated telephone systems, company

              switchboard operators would often check on

              the first few moments of a phone

              conversation.

              But modern communications systems mean

              information is streaming in and out of

              businesses at the click of a mouse.

              Software, which can help bosses keep an eye

              on it all, is now a multi-million pound industry.

              Steve Donovan, a director of Armstrong

              Communications in Salford, can use one such

              application to monitor what each of his 20

              staff is doing on the internet.

              His staff can be online quite legitimately for

              several hours a day.

              They all know that their boss keeps an eye on

              their internet traffic and e-mail - and that he

              is happy for them to use the net occasionally

              for personal reasons.

              Right to privacy

              Mr Donovan says he has to know what is

              happening online to protect his business.

              "Do I spend 90 percent of my time looking at

              my PC, checking up on my staff? No, I'm too

              busy," he told the BBC.

              "But if I wish to know if I've got a problem with

              a member of my staff, it means I can go back

              and check what they were doing online.

              "If I need to discipline someone, I need to

              know all the facts if I'm going to do it

              competently."

              The government has said the new regulations

              are aimed at allowing businesses to get the

              most out of the new communications

              technology.

              But many campaigners believe they directly

              contravene the Human Rights and Data

              Protection Acts, which state individuals have a

              right to privacy at work.

              Draft guidelines issued by the Data Protection

              Commissioner also question whether blanket

              monitoring can be justified, and stress that

              employees have a right to work without

              constantly being monitored.

              Privacy campaigners like Simon Davies of

              Privacy International have said confusion over

              these issues could lead employers to behave

              illegally, and that the government's stance is

              wrong.

              "Today is a bleak day for privacy in Britain," he

              said. "It signals that rather than moving

              forward to establish human dignity and

              autonomy, we're actually creating more

              systems of control.

              "I think it's very important that people

              recognise that, and that employees make sure

              they use whatever mechanisms they've got to

              protect what rights they have left."

              The government has said employers must

              strike a balance between privacy and

              surveillance, but there is little doubt that

              unscrupulous employers could abuse the rules.