(I am CTO of the company, and am always willing to get into philisophical discussions on privacy, as I also am a card-carrying member of the ACLU and an avid follower of the CATO Institute)

“If you are worried that your company will have a zero tolerance policy on this subject, they will soon run out of employees who they don’t fire.”

The presumption that employees will somehow quit rather than tolerate unneccesary indignities is negated by the widespead use of mandatory drug testing (just one example!) in the U.S. While I can’t speak to the business climate in the U.K., I somehow doubt Brits would more inclined to walk without another job secured.

Add a paycheck–a very major concern for many, rather than some type of optional bonus–and simply refusing a position over a privacy issue, again, becomes an unlikely option.

And if the technology becomes ubiqitous, where do they escape TO? Your simplistic argument doesn’t seem to account for that.

I, again, do not dispute concerns about liability and trade secrets etc., but dealing with employees as individuals is far more effective than electronic lockdowns. Morever, such concerns existed long before computers were a staple of the workplace.

I understand you hardly approach this from an unbiased perspective (as CTO of the company in question, how can you?), but at least I commend you for posting as yourself (if that’s really you!).

Actually, I always figured at work was the safest place to use my credit card since the computers here are secure.

Some employers have such concerns about proprietary information (and such little trust of the their own employees, despite monitoring), that even, say, checking one’s email during the lunch hour is verboten.

None of which has too much to do with Angie’s point, mainly whether the compiled information ends up in the wrong hands. It’s the degree of information retention, and the possible breach of security, that’s being raised.

However, unless you’re using your credit card at work (usually a dumb idea), most likely your poker-buddy conversation will be of zero interest to anyone. But there IS a privacy issue that should not be lightly dismissed, even if you’re only doing work-related activities.

However, I’m more concerned about security breaches involving personal data of millions, the opposite problem if you will. The next time I hear about 26 millions names on some idiot’s laptop, I’m going to scream. That’s just inexcusable.

In many ways this is just an extension of what we have done over the years – using the copy machine for example. Common sense goes a LONG way.

Your message cannot be delivered to the following recipients:

Recipient address: jj@cox.netReason: Remote SMTP server has rejected addressDiagnostic code: smtp;550 recipient rejectedRemote system: dns;mx1.west.cox.net (fed1rmimpi02.cox.net IMP ESMTP server ready)

Apparently jj doesn’t exist.

Now take that same piece of paper and put it in a file cabinet; what level of dumbness is that?

A computer is for data storage and manipulation just like paper used to be. It’s the company’s data and not your personal data maybe?

As far as spying on personal email that was never used at the workplace, yes that should be illegal and am surprised it is not. My suggestion if your boss wants an email address, make an hotmail or yahoo mail address and give that to him. Keep your personal email private and share it with no one except family and trusted companies.

(This is a joke) The company I work for thought of putting surveillance cameras above the women’s changing rooms to stop the theft of women’s apparel. But gave up on the idea when no one was willing to watch the tape of a three hundred pound woman trying on a tong! BTW, yes that is one of the most stolen items everyday from retailers…Lady’s under garments. One day while cleaning out the changing room, I found evidence that five different sized bras had been stolen. From a young teen to a 44 DD, so either five females were in need of a new bra or the thief need something to fit out the largest of the five.Oh the stories I could tell! LoL I may still some day…