Imagine a marketing manager receives an email joke with a racial slur then continues to forward it to a group of co-workers. A few months later, the company is being investigated and tried in a court case of racism. This situation escalated extremely fast and is a paradigm of why employers must monitor their employee’s technological activities in the workplace (Gaudin).
In today’s world, technology is extremely advanced and continues to progress with new innovations. As new technology is created, personal privacy diminishes. The newest technologies make informational property easily accessible; therefore, privacy violations have recently become more prevalent. Property such as computer emails, documents, etc. are specifically put at risk due to the advancement of technology. Although personal emails and other aspects of one’s computer should have set privacy boundaries, computers and email addresses distributed by a corporation should be subject to monitoring. Employees should not expect privacy of any means on their work-mandated computer, especially in regard to emails. Although employees may feel violated by email monitoring, they are simply distracted by a false expectation of privacy. Despite these concerns, employers should have the right to monitor employee email because the motive to protect company liability, reputation and tangible assets is legitimate.
In general, employers have the right to read their employee’s emails, unless there is a company policy or contract that assures complete privacy (Crowther 357-63). For example, companies can provide a “confidential” option for emails or allow for a private password (Crowther 358). Many companies, however, choose against these options because monitoring is far more benef...
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...er, Brandon T. "(Un)Reasonable Expectation of Digital Privacy." Brigham Young University Law Review 2012.1 (2012): 357-63. Web.
Dillon, Thomas W., Arthur J. Hamilton, Daphyne S. Thomas, and Mark L. Usry. "The Importance of Communicating Workplace Privacy Policies." Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal 20.2 (n.d.): 119-39. Web.
Gaudin, Sharon. "The Perils of Privacy." CNN. Cable Network News, 29 Dec. 1999. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.
Hornung, Meir S. "Think Before You Type: A Look at Email Privacy in the Workplace." Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law 11.1 (2005): 115-60. Web.
Kierkegaard, Sylvia. "Privacy in Electronic Communication: Watch Your E-mail: Your Boss Is Snooping!" Computer Law & Security Report 21.3 (2005): 226-36. Web.
Woodbury, Marsha. "Email, Voicemail and Privacy: What Policy Is Ethical?" Science and Engineering Ethics 6.2 (2000): 235-44. Web.
"Internet Privacy." Congressional Quarterly Researcher 8.41 ( Nov. 6, 1998 ). Busse Library, Cedar Rapids . 6 July 2003 <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher>
Don’t put it on the internet, although I guess some people would! “Don Tapscott can see the future coming ... and works to identify the new concepts we need to understand in a world transformed by the Internet.” (“Don Tapscott” Ted Conferences LLC) Tapscott is an Adjunct Professor of Management at the Rotman School of Management and the Inaugural Fellow at the Martin Prosperity Institute. In 2013, Tapscott was appointed Chancellor of Trent University. He has written extensively on the topic of information security in the digital age over the past fifteen years. In his essay entitled, “Should We Ditch the Idea of Privacy?”(Tapscott p.117). Tapscott considers a new, emerging theory
7. Herman T. Tavani, James H. Moor "Privacy Protection, Control of Information, and Privacy-Enhancing Technologies", Computers and Society, March 2001
Part of the allure of the Internet has always been the anonymity it offers its users. As the Internet has grown however, causing capitalists and governments to enter the picture, the old rules are changing fast. E-commerce firms employ the latest technologies to track minute details on customer behavior. The FBI's Carnivore email-tracking system is being increasingly used to infringe on the privacy of netizens. Corporations now monitor their employees' web and email usage. In addition to these privacy infringements, Internet users are also having their use censored, as governments, corporations, and other institutions block access to certain sites. However, as technology can be used to wage war on personal freedoms, it can also be employed in the fight against censorship and invasion of privacy.
Print Lazar, Wendi S. “Limitations to Workplace Privacy: Electronic Investigations and Monitoring” Computer and Internet Lawyer (2012): SIRS. Web. The Web. The Web.
Previously it took a lot of equipment to monitor a person's actions, but now with technology's development and advancement all it requires is a computer. And there are many mediums which can be monitored such as telephones, email, voice mail, and computers.4 People's rights are protected by many laws, but in private businesses there are few laws protecting an individual's rights. 5 As an employee of a company there is an understanding of the amount of monitoring the employer does. The employer has to decide how much monitoring is necessary to satisfy the company needs without damaging the company's employee morale.6 With all the monitoring done by private businesses they are free to violate employee privacy since the Constitution and the Bill of Rights a...
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.
LeRoux, Yves. "Privacy concerns in the digital world." 03 Oct 2013. Computer Weekly. 24 April 2014 .
As society has progressed, there have been many new innovative and unbelievable developments in almost all aspects of life that have ultimately created an impact. More specifically, advancements in technology have rather had a much larger and intense impact on society as it continues to grow. Technology has allowed for many great and useful applications that has made life much easier and convenient. However, many aspects of technology have given a rise to a number of social and ethical issues, causing numerous debates and concerns. One of the more prominent concerns deals with the issue of privacy rights.
An example of the pros and cons of privacy in the work place while during the hiring process is in 2012, a company in Maryland decided to ask job seekers to log into personal profiles and search through wall posts. As this is becoming more of trend many creative ways to monitor the posts. Another example within this sector is the athletic program at the University of North Carolina, “Each team must identify at least one coach or administrator who is responsible for having access to and regularly monitoring the content of team member social networking sites and postings”
Powell, Robert. "Four Ways Technology Invades Your Privacy." Lovemoney.com. N.p., 5 Oct. 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Hughes, Kirsty. "A Behavioral Understanding of Privacy and Its Implications for Privacy Law." Modern Law Review 75.5 (2012): 806-836. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Apr. 2014.
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
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
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.