Employee Privacy Report
Name
COM/285
August 7, 2010
Instructor

Employee Privacy Report

Introduction

The right to privacy is an inherent expectation of all citizens; however, the private citizen should not assume that he or she is afforded the same privacy protections at their place of employment. In fact, employees may find themselves more vulnerable. Other then the constitutional and legal requirements, employers have more latitude when it comes to delving into matters that some employees would otherwise consider personal and private. Therefore, it is important for employees to be aware of his or her privacy rights in the workplace, including policies regarding use of e-mail and Internet.

Email and the Internet undoubtedly has revolutionized the way the entire world communicates. The irony is this technology erodes the expectation of privacy because users expose themselves to personal identity theft and it proliferates illegal and malicious activities such as child pornography; harassment; cyber attacks on personal and business networks; and attempts to steal intellectual property. All of this comes with a personal, legal, and financial cost, especially for businesses. Therefore, to protect themselves from legal action and monetary damages, it is necessary for businesses to implement policies that govern the appropriate use of their electronic systems.

A Real-World Example of Email use, Internet use, and Privacy policies

To demonstrate existing email and Internet use policies, below is a summary of the privacy and email and Internet use policies of a major defense contractor located in California.

Privacy

By law, all personally identifiable information for employees and external users is protected. The definition for this and the measures of protection are thoroughly defined in the policy.

For California employees, the