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> If they didn't, and he is simply personal making accounts using the corporate network, then he would not have an expectation of privacy in my opinion. Not qu

> If they didn't, and he is simply personal making accounts using the corporate network, then he would not have an expectation of privacy in my opinion. Not quite right - this is one of the grey areas where the law defines something in between "has an expectation of privacy" and "doesn't have an expectation of privacy". Basically, the employer generally can't access personal information on work computers, even connected to work networks, unless they have a reasonable belief that e.g. there's evidence of the employee breaking policy in that personal information. Even then, they must access as little as possible - for example, if you believe that the employee has personal information on their computer and having personal information is against policy in itself, and that's the only thing you believe, all you can do is ascertain that it actually exists - you can't go digging through people's family photos or private communications unless you reasonably believe that there's further policy violation in there.

unfocused 11y ago
I fully agree with you with the grey area sentiment. I eluded it it by saying "my opinion" as I'm not sure we have all the facts given that all policies are different. The policy the employee accepts, and to be honest not enough employers explain these policies, should be the starting point of determining what is allowed and what isn't to a certain extent. This is definitely a difficult problem.
- vertex-four 11y ago
  > The policy the employee accepts, and to be honest not enough employers explain these policies, should be the starting point of determining what is allowed and what isn't to a certain extent. While true, we also have a "right to a private life" under Article 8 of the ECHR (where many rights protect you from employers as well as the State, including this one). When your spouse, or your doctor, calls you with an emergency on your company phone because they can't reach you on your mobile for whatever reason, should your employer have the right to know intimate details of your private life or health? The answer we came to is "no", whereas the US might come to "yes" as its constitution only covers a very narrow definition of privacy which doesn't take into account many modernities. So widespread, aimless listening on work communications, in the majority of cases, is probably against the law across the EU due to the above argument. Proportionate and limited listening is allowed - for example, if you wanted an alert every time someone accessed Facebook as using it for personal use is against policy, you could do that, but you couldn't go and read all their private chat messages and posts whatever your policy says (unless you have a reasonable belief the account was supposed to be work-specific - for example, you specifically authorized this specific account - and you accidentally stumble across something personal, or that the employee is e.g. sharing trade secrets through Facebook).

unfocused 11y ago

I fully agree with you with the grey area sentiment. I eluded it it by saying "my opinion" as I'm not sure we have all the facts given that all policies are different. The policy the employee accepts, and to be honest not enough employers explain these policies, should be the starting point of determining what is allowed and what isn't to a certain extent. This is definitely a difficult problem.

vertex-four 11y ago
> The policy the employee accepts, and to be honest not enough employers explain these policies, should be the starting point of determining what is allowed and what isn't to a certain extent. While true, we also have a "right to a private life" under Article 8 of the ECHR (where many rights protect you from employers as well as the State, including this one). When your spouse, or your doctor, calls you with an emergency on your company phone because they can't reach you on your mobile for whatever reason, should your employer have the right to know intimate details of your private life or health? The answer we came to is "no", whereas the US might come to "yes" as its constitution only covers a very narrow definition of privacy which doesn't take into account many modernities. So widespread, aimless listening on work communications, in the majority of cases, is probably against the law across the EU due to the above argument. Proportionate and limited listening is allowed - for example, if you wanted an alert every time someone accessed Facebook as using it for personal use is against policy, you could do that, but you couldn't go and read all their private chat messages and posts whatever your policy says (unless you have a reasonable belief the account was supposed to be work-specific - for example, you specifically authorized this specific account - and you accidentally stumble across something personal, or that the employee is e.g. sharing trade secrets through Facebook).