So it turns out you're wrong and the GP is right. Of course it's technically possible, but not legally. Many European countries do have these protections, even

So it turns out you're wrong and the GP is right. Of course it's technically possible, but not legally. Many European countries do have these protections, even in the fairly privacy lax UK it is illegal to read employees emails unless you have a reasonable reason to be doing so. Even if you do have a good reason, perhaps they're ill, you're not allowed to open them if it's obviously not from a business contact or it's obviously a private email. So reading an email from an employee's spouse or girlfriend would be illegal.