Business

Due to the ever increasing use of internet and other forms of computer technology at the work place, concerns have risen involving the privacy of both the employees and the employers. The use of the internet and the email are greatly reducing the costs of operation in the work place by automating human tasks and facilitating communication on boundless levels. Although this technology ought to be acknowledged for the manner in which it has transformed business and the work environment, it arouses new concerns. This paper will explore the current laws regulating employee e-mail and Internet privacy, why companies implement email and internet policies, the assumptions that employees make about their privacy at work and how such policies affect employee privacy at work (Bourke, 2010)
The email, internet use and privacy policies at work place.

An internet and emails usage policy reads out what is considered appropriate internet usage behavior at workplace. These policies typically impose time limitations for employees while browsing for non work tasks and specifying what sites they are permitted to browse. Obtaining an internet-email usage policy also referred to as an acceptable use policy (AUP), guarantees that staff are following orders that safeguard the working environment and generally the Information Technology network infrastructure. Generally, when a person is at work, he or she is supposed to spend time working. Checking ones emails and surfing or even using the office telephone for making personal calls is creating a good and legal reason to be fired (Heathfield, 2009).

Employees do not have any or privacy rights to use office computers and telephone devices. In addition, the company cell phones, emails or other electronic devices belong solely to the company and they should be monitored as the company desires (Heathfield, 2009

Why companies implement email and internet use policies
Employers have many varying reasons for implementing internet and email policies at workplace, obviously related to their role of monitoring the employees. To begin with, the employer wants to monitor the employees performance. The use of internet and emails for personal purposes while in the office will automatically affect the performance of the employee because such time should only be dedicated towards achieving the goals and objectives set for them but not for personal issues. In this age of technological advancement, it is necessary for employer to also protect their trade and business secrets. For this reason, they must put in place policies for monitoring and limiting electronic communication of their employees to ensure that the company trade secrets are not leaking out to the public or other unauthorized areas (Bourke, 2010)

Companies also do implement these policies to avoid liability for undue wrongs. In the latest example, the Chevron Corporation was ordered to compensate four plaintiffs a total of 2.2 million when an email containing sexual harassment was evidenced. If this corporation had taken measures to implement internet and email use policies for the employees, it could have avoided the liability which was a result of improper jokes circulating inside the firm (Bourke, 2010). A company also considers these policies and regulations as an important means of ensuring that the companys software systems are not corrupted or destroyed by external data that is usually passed across the system. Harmful data and content could be sent by malicious people (who could be either employees or other external members) that could harm the companys operating systems causing them to either lose important data or to crush. Such incidences will not only disrupt the order of work but might also cause loopholes for fraud and theft (Bourke, 2010).

The current laws regulating employee e-mail and Internet privacy
The internet usage policy by the employees covers all employees who have access to the internet. However, while most policies cover similar grounds, each corporation has its own stipulations and conditions in accordance to the infrastructure of the company. Certain groups of individuals could be exempt from the clauses in these policies considering certain factors like their precise role or their hierarchical position in the company. Where such extra ordinary exceptions do not exist, then the policy applies across the board (Bourke, 2010)

Any e-mail sent from the companys email address is considered a professional file regardless of whether it is just a single-line reply. Provided it contains the details of the company enclosed to it and it is departing from the company, it acts as a companys representation and ought to defend the standards of the company. Therefore any prejudiced content in the emails that are sent through the companys email break the internet usage policy (Heathfield, 2009). Everybody is answerable for their activities online and whichever data stored or produced on the company terminal is not confidential or personal and can be rightfully accessed by the management if and when necessary. Similarly, all the company information and data is confidential and private. It should never be sent out of the company without authorization by the companys management or representatives. These are the current rules that govern the employee usage of the company internet and email and are made available to all the company employees so that the management of the company ensures that the employees are aware of the dangers and risks they could be exposing themselves and the company by misusing the internet and email services at the workplace (Heathfield, 2009).

Assumptions made by the employees about their privacy at work
The assumptions that the employees make concerning the implantation of internet usage policy at work place draws both positive and negative views from the employees. Although there are basic policies governing the internet usage by employees, each company will adjust (but not change) these policies so as to fit in the context of their working environment. The assumptions and conclusions therefore made by the staff mostly depend on the methods and the standards of imposing these rules and regulations that the company adopts when presenting them to the employees (Heathfield, 2009).  It has however been observed that majority of the employees in companies do not embrace these policies and consider them a vice rather than a virtue. They mostly interpret them as a means of denying them freedom at workplace and a refutation of their rights as members of the company. It is mostly when a problem arises from the breakage of the internet usage policies (such as the total crush or corruption of the data in the operating system) that most employees will view these policies as an important part of ethics at work place. This is because a system crush will not only affect the company but also the employees since they may have to repeat work that had already been completed and some of the data could be completely irrecoverable (Heathfield, 2009).

The internet usage policies affect the employee privacy at the workplace because an employee cannot be able to send or receive any personal emails using the companys computers without informing the management. The management of most companies in the U.S. has in place systems that able to track down any communication from a PC of an employee to the terminal. Therefore employee privacy at the work place is a thing of the past in the modern companies not only in the US but also in most countries across the world (Heathfield, 2009).