...into an age of counter-terrorism. While the more obvious aspects of this effort against violent extremism, which violate human and constitutional rights, such as drone strikes, waterboarding, and black prison sites, are specifically targeted toward a specific population, it is the subtler aspects of mass surveillance and corporate and governmental intrusion of privacy which present an overwhelming threat to human rights and quality of life. As has been made clear by recent revelations of the scope and depth of these intrusions, internet users specifically have many reasons to suspect that private information entered online is vulnerable to un-ethical intrusions by third parties. However, many groups and individuals have come together to bring resolution to the issue of personal privacy and national security. According to article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, or to attacks upon his honor and reputation (Lachmayer 749). However, the more subtle aspects of the new counter-terrorism age include a heightened amount of internet surveillance, video surveillance of public spaces, electronic eavesdropping, and data retention. Additionally governments have access to bank accounts, travel booking information, and data held in cloud storage (749). In other words, nearly every aspect of modern life can not only be monitored, but due to recent technological expanses...
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...Since the invention of radio, intelligence-gathering organizations have been developing and using eavesdropping techniques to intercept and review wireless communications. Initially, these capabilities were solely used to spy on hostile nations, and particularly for military purposes. Human operators had to manually review each transmission, and cryptanalysts pored over military ciphers in an attempt to decode important messages. As wireless communication has become an integral part of commercial and individual existence, and potential threats to security are increasingly found in peacetime and on home ground, the scope of this intelligence gathering has likewise broadened. One of the most controversial eavesdropping systems in existence is a classified project known as ‘Echelon.’ Its use of computer hardware and software to filter communications from all over the world brings up many ethical issues related to the impact of computers on privacy. Overview of Echelon Most of the evidence for Echelon is circumstantial, though a few facts have been established. The participating organizations (notably the US Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency) have neither confirmed nor denied its existence. In lieu of a discussion of the ethical issues, a brief summary of the current knowledge follows. How it Works Echelon is the product of Cold War efforts to monitor wireless communications in the USSR. It traces its roots back to the clandestine UKUSA...
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...whether or not the world in his novel ties in with our own world. Do we have enough privacy or are we constantly under surveillance? The argument on personal privacy is far from a new debate. Some people argue that the government has too much access to what we do, while others say that the government’s intrusion is fine. In our age, the digital age, everything is online and private information is available to the government. The so called “Big Brother”, or, our government and algorithms, is watching over US citizens in illegal and inappropriate ways. Private companies like Facebook or Google have access to what one searches on those sites, but the video “What Google and Facebook Are Hiding” demonstrates how those sites save and...
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...Assignment # 1- Electronic Surveillance of Employees Ww gg Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance Professor Lynette Collins April 19, 2011 Electronic Surveillance of Employees 1. Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. Privacy has become extremely important part of American culture. Lately, work place privacy has brought unwanted and costly litigations. To protect the company from those kinds of litigations, organizations are monitoring employee communications carefully. Although according to courts the private organizations have rights to monitor employee communications. In order to this `` Employee surveillance and email monitoring in the workplace present a number of sometimes conflicting issues regarding an employer’s need to protect its property and itself against liability and an employee’s right to privacy``(Adams, Scheuing & Feeley, 2000). Martin and Freeman (2003) also examined key arguments for and against employee monitoring, productivity, security, liability, privacy, and creativity. Privacy may be invaded in four ways. The first is unreasonable intrusion upon a person’s seclusion. Appropriation occurs when the use of a person’s name or likeness is used for economic benefit. Third is public disclosure of private facts. Finally, false light Most cases concerning invasion of privacy by employers involve intrusion upon seclusion’s is publicly characterizing or placing a person in a false light (Chieh and...
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...employer to be aware of what an employee is doing on company time and with company property. As law suits are rampant, it is important for a company to protect itself and its employees. If an employee is sending potential sexually offensive material or just offensive material on company time and company property it is important for a company to be able to monitor and stop this action or be held accountable. In some companies an employer needs to be able to monitor an employee for sharing trade secrets and information that could potential harm or cause a loss in revenue. I however feel that it is of utmost importance for each company to determine how much surveillance is needed, with in the guide lines of the law. As brought out in our reading “The erosion of employee privacy by such practices as electronic monitoring and surveillance, however, comes at a cost in the form of increased stress and decreased employee morale, satisfaction and trust in their organization and management (Hornung 2005; Lee and Kleiner 2003). The Constitution’s fourth amendment also protects against “unreasonable search and seizure.” So with in each company a balance needs to be taken to protect themselves and the morale rights of the employees that work for them. For many causes privacy rights, within the boundaries of the laws, will have to be viewed individually as to whether they are ethical, to that particular situation. However I see that it is increasingly more necessary to have monitoring in companies...
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...Electronic Surveillance of Employees LEG 500 Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance January 22, 2012 1. Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. Human beings need privacy and have a right to expect privacy in certain areas of their lives. The areas where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace are very limited. Common decency precludes monitoring in highly private locations, such as bathrooms. Personal items, such as purses, wallets and gym bags may also be considered to be off-limits. The employee can also reasonably expect privacy during personal telephone calls at work. In Watkins v. L. M. Berry (1983), the court upheld upon appeal that employers must stop monitoring calls upon realization that the call is of a personal nature. Exceptions to this are when employer policy specifically forbids calls of a personal nature. Here the employees need for privacy directly conflict with established policy. Privacy protection may vary with state laws and federal statutes. State laws on privacy in the workplace may differ with some states offering much more privacy protection to the employees than others. For example, Volkert (2005) reported that while electronic surveillance may be allowed in Idaho, it must have a specific purpose and record video only (no audio). Government employees are likely to have greater privacy rights than private sector employees due to protections under the Fourth Amendment of...
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...privacy it’s important to consider personal privacy in relation to the company’s privacy and more paramount, company protection. As the video illustrated, the managers reasoning for monitoring his sales floor employee conversations was to protect the reputation of the car dealership as well as protect the business against any potential legal ramifications from dishonest sales employees. This is a very reasonable purpose for monitoring electronically to protect company interest. However, it would be in the interest of the company to communicate to its employees that they are being monitored so there is not sense of privacy invasion of its employees. As in the example with this case, it’s reasonable that the case can be made that electronic surveillance anywhere on the company property is reasonable to protect customer and company interest. Since the restroom is a very necessary and private need, this would be the only reasonable place within a work environment that an employee could expect to have privacy. In the office workplace there are typically two types of workspaces,...
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...Assignment #1 – Electronic Surveillance of EmployeesStrayer University LEG500 – Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance Assignment #1 – Electronic Surveillance of EmployeesExplain Where an Employee Can Reasonably Expect to Have Privacy in the WorkplaceAlthough the law on employee privacy rights is still developing, various federal and state laws limit and define what employers can do when monitoring their employees (Dillon, Hamilton, Thomas, & Usry, 2008). Under federal and most state law, there are areas where an employee has a “reasonable expectation of privacy” in the workplace. Generally, privacy in the workplace can reasonably be expected in the following three general areas.First, the area of where employees can reasonably expect to have privacy from their co-workers is in their private workplace areas. Courts generally recognize a reasonable expectation of privacy as to an employee’s exclusive private office, desk, and file cabinets containing personal matters not shared with other workers (Wilson, 2006). Second, in highly private areas such as restrooms, break lounges, locker rooms, and places designated for health or personal comfort, courts have generally recognized employees’ reasonable expectations of privacy. The main reason is that activities carried out in these places are things that are not normally done in public. They are private acts, and the employee has a reasonable expectation of privacy during these activities. Finally, different kind of privacy...
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...Electronic Surveillance of Employees Professor Michael Hall Law, Ethic, and Corporate Governance- LEG 500 November 1, 2011 Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. You may think your United States employee rights authorize you to have a privacy workplace. People are wrong because, according to workplace privacy studies, the odds were good that your employer was monitoring all your internet actions, including your web pages and chat rooms (Niznik, 2011). If your company policy does not state there is a workplace privacy policy, your employer may watch, listen, and read just about everything in workplace area. Employers have the right to protect their business, their finances, and all of their equipment. The American Management Association (AMA) conducted a study of 526 employers which most use some type of electronic surveillance of the employees (Niznik, 2011). Many employers will deny they use any type of electronic surveillance however; the odds are good that your employer has “the eye,” watching your every move at work. Employers are not required to provide workplace privacy because your employers own everything you use at work. Your employers own the computers you work on, the telephones you talk on and the buildings in which you work. There are only a few weak employee workplace privacy right laws that exist. Since there are so few workplace privacy laws, it is legal for “the eye” to spy on you without your...
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...Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. Is there truly such a thing as privacy in the workplace? In today’s society it is possible for companies to monitor every aspect of what employees do in the office environment, from email, surfing the Internet to phone conversations. Federal and state laws specifically address an employer's right and ability to monitor, save, record, access, or otherwise conduct surveillance of employees' use of company electronic communication resources and systems. Generally speaking, if an employer complies with the notice and consent requirements under these laws, and writes and distributes policies consistent with the laws, it will be difficult for employees to show a reasonable expectation of privacy in using company-owned electronic communication systems. But there are specific laws, rules, and regulations which grant certain employee privacy rights within the workplace. These laws govern Personnel records, social security numbers, monitoring and eavesdropping, medical records, drug testing, and background screening. Employees generally have a right to privacy in their personnel records, with exception of a few specific circumstances. This means that employers are generally not permitted to disclose personnel records of an employee to third parties without a legal obligation to do so or written consent from the employee's. The right can be found in state statutes, codes, or by judicial case law....
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...“Electronic Surveillance of Employees” Katy Romero Law, Ethics and Corporate Governance Dr. Andrea N. Brvenik Strayer University July 17, 2011 Electronic Surveillance of Employees An employer has the right to monitor the employees to increase the productivity and efficiency of its business. In the other hand, every person has the right of privacy within the organization. Human beings must experience a degree of privacy to thrive. Electronic surveillance is increasing every year within the organizations worldwide. This practice has created a debate among employees and employers. 1. Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in a workplace Employees are becoming increasingly concerned about their privacy as their employers are monitoring them electronically more closely than ever before. Still employees expect to have privacy at the lunch area, bathrooms and lockers. Besides those places the employee has little or almost no privacy within the company. Electronic monitoring allows an employer to observe what employees do on the job and review employee communications, including e-mail and Internet activity, often capturing and reviewing communications that employees consider private. Now days, video monitoring is commonplace in many work environments to maintain security, monitor employees, and to deter theft. 2. In the workplace, there are typically two spaces, an open area in which there are several desks and where conversations can be...
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...Electronic Surveillance of Employees Mitchell D. Upchurch Anthony Robinson Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance- LEG 500 January 17, 2011 Privacy in the Workplace Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. Privacy in the workplace can reasonably be expected in three general areas as it relates to the employer, co-workers, clients and customers. When an employee is hired at a new company, there are several security measures that are already in place in order to keep their personal information private and/or confidential. The first being in the Human Resources Department where all the information is gathered by the employee filling out various forms of that are confidential in nature. This information is kept in the employee’s private, confidential employee folder in the Human Resources Department, generally in a locked cabinet or other secured areas. This ensures that no one other than the Human Resources Department can get access to the information other in the file. At times, special permission is granted for a manager to review the file for a specific reason, along with the Human Resources representative. The second place where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy is in the computer mainframe where all the pertinent records (such as social security number, address, date of birth, banking information, etc.) are stored. This is used primarily for an employee’s timekeeper administration and government...
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...Technology in the Workplace Joshua Adams TEC 401 May 1, 2012 Dr. Kyle Kucera Technology in the Workplace Technology today is probably one main key factor of every organizations success. Without technology everything would take longer and would not be as accurate. There would be a ton of people in different businesses that would be lost without today’s technology. I work in the corporate security industry, and there are many types of technology used on an everyday basis. The most important thing that is used while in the corporate setting is our radios. We also use personnel tracking systems (DNA Fusion), audio and video surveillance, metal detectors as well as an alarm system that we monitor every minute of the day. For those in the field in a guard shack or say a powerplant for instance the technology used there is a little bit different. The types of technology used in a guard shack would be x-ray vehicle scanners, computer operated gate systems and also weapons. The duties of a corporate security guard is to ensure the safety of everyone occupying the building or its parking garages or lots, and to protect the entire property from any type of damage or trespassing of any unwanted characters. To ensure that this can be done we use radios to communicate with each other. The purpose of radios is for the safety of the guard. If anything happens during a patrol this is the only way anyone will know that the guard needs assistance. The radio is also used to communicate...
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...Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance July 17, 2011 1. Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. Employees are becoming increasingly concerned about their privacy as their employers are monitoring them electronically more than ever . The best way to ensure the privacy of personal calls made at work is to use your own mobile phone or a local pay phone. Employers are very interested in the loyalty, productivity, and privacy of the employees. Employers usually include privacy policies in the employee handbook that outlines company guidelines when referring to emails and electronic surveillance. The only place an employee can actually expect to have privacy at work is in the restroom. However, this is only to a certain degree since people come in and out of bathrooms on a regular basis. The only laws that govern privacy are outlined in the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Amendments. These amendments can’t be violated by any government sector. However, these amendments don’t cover the private sector of businesses. Privacy laws in the private sector are dictated by state and federal statutes along with the common law of torts. The tort of intrusion regarding seclusion is used by employees to address an employer’s invasion of privacy by electronic monitoring. The Restatement of Torts 652A (1977) specifically states; “One...
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...I. INTRODUCTION Controversy surrounding workplace monitoring and surveillance has intensified with the rapid digitization of the workplace. The ways in which we work, communicate and share information have forever changed. Employers are playing constant “catch up” with new technologies that are utilized on a broad scale long before policies are created to manage their impacts. Privacy issues often arise in connection with employer efforts to locate, hire and evaluate the most qualified and reliable employees. Improvements in technology, such as the rapid rise of the use of electronic mail and the increasing use of surveillance cameras, often force otherwise reluctant employers to readdress the balance between employees' privacy concerns and perceived business needs. In fact, nearly 67% of all companies currently use some type of surveillance in the workplace. According to a recent poll, “. . . over 66% percent of those surveyed had used the Internet from work in the past 24 hours.” (M.Lee Smith Publishers, Hospitality Workforce Trends, January 2000) In addition, when issues in his or her personal life impact an employee’s work, the employer must make judgments as to the appropriate level of involvement. Lastly, as traffic on the “information superhighway” continues to explode a number of substantive questions about the use and abuse of these information networks arises. What are the ramifications for employees’ right to privacy in the workplace? Does an employer...
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