Company monitoring of email etc?

[zoombini]

Hello, I got this email today: (company name changed)

All Staff General and Personal Use - Tacky stuff co. prohibit the use of E-mail and Internet for:

We are aware that employees will use the Company’s communication facilities. (Telephone, post, fax, e-mail, Internet) for incoming and outgoing communications) you must request permission from your line manager for this and who is authorised to give permission only for emergency and infrequent use. Operating a business, usurping business opportunities; soliciting money for personal gain; searching for potential employment outside the company; sending chain letters; gambling; or engaging in any activity is a violation of current laws and employees will face disciplinary action.

**Regardless of the above permission, the following is prohibited at any time:

Downloading and use of software, in any form, that has not been previously authorised by the IT Manager for use within Tacky Stuff co.. It is the responsibility of the Department Directors and Managers to ensure that this rule is enforced.

Response to external complaints or requests for information/comment by E-mail, unless this is a specific responsibility of the person involved.

Any on-line purchasing and selling activities unless the person is expressly authorised to conduct such activity on behalf of the business.

All employees share responsibility for ensuring that security is maintained at all times.

You should be aware that as Tacky Stuff co. does monitor and intercept calls for its protection and to meet conformity obligations, these calls should not be regarded as private. As Tacky Stuff co. has no desire to intrude on an employee’s private and personal affairs, we would prefer to recommend that you do not use the Company’s facilities for personal use.

**Any personal e-mail must include a statement that the contents are personal and are not authorised by the company.

E-mail used to communicate on a personal level to other members of staff must be limited; any abuse of this will lead to disciplinary action, bearing in mind that this is use of Company time and resources. Again please be aware we reserve the right to monitor email and in order to comabt abuse open emails to ensure correct use of the system.

To monitor the above this company wish to make all employees aware of the following exceptions to the right to privacy, with regard to the interception and monitoring of company communications

Regulations of Investigatory Powers Act 2000: -

To establish facts relating to business transactions that are made by the above communications.

To monitor the standard of communications by employees for training and work performance appraisals, when this is part of their job description.

To prevent and detect crime.

To investigate and detect unauthorised use of the telecommunications systems, to protect the employer from illegal use of the system by employees, and to protect employees from being harassed by abuse of these communications systems.

To secure effective operation of the systems (e.g. to check potential viruses on the system).

Regards
the young filly in Personnell.

Now looking on the web I can see that this is true, they can monitor my emails etc.
However, looking at the above mentioned act here mentions the interception of phone & postal communications but I see no email or web communications mentioned?

Hes she in fact quoted the wrong act & should it instead be this.

And do us mere employees have any further rights under this I.E. to be informed when our communications are accesed etc?

Also doesn't this conflict with the DPA if the comms is kept?

[Charlie_Bubble]

Lawful interception of a communication
3. (2) Conduct is authorised by paragraph (1) of this regulation only if - (c) the system controller has made all reasonable efforts to inform every person who may use the telecommunication system in question that communications transmitted by means thereof may be intercepted;

They have notified you and do not need to say anything more. I guess in future they can dip in and out of your mail at their own leisure.

[zoombini]

Yes, but isnt the regulation she quoted about telephone conversations & not email use?

Also isnt it still illegal to open our postal mail?

[Rob]

The critical thing is that the company is warning you that they are, or can, monitor you. There is legislation, but I suspect it's less about telling you what the legislation is, than confirming what the company is up to.

As the admin of a small company's IT network (amongst my other jobs) I make sure that each user, before they get access signs a simple disclaimer. It's not just about protecting my employers from allegations, it also protects me from when I have to log on as users to troubleshoot issues and might come across something. Of course there are legitimate purposes, when the network is slowing to a crawl, the logs can often show the cause, which in the past has been traced to a user abusing the IT system.

In any case, why should a company not have in place systems that check on email and the like. The very needs of business can require a trail that confirms communications made, simply to confirm what the company is committed to do.

Frankly (and no doubt I'll get a few moans for this), I'm amazed that there is such apparent indignation that companies can and do monitor email, web use and so on. Realistically, we are employed by a business to be working, not to be doing our own thing. Companies invest a small fortune in IT kit, so that it makes their business more profitable, but they don't want to loose that efficiency by seeing their employees spend time that should be generating earnings, lost to pointless emails, web use at all. A few years a go it was abuse of the photocopier, and private phone calls that concerned companies, now it's abuse of IT. It's all the same thing really.

/goes off to stop abuses of the IT system by those he monitors

[SOSAGES]

*wonders off to read his boss's email and make outlook reminders about pay rise*

[Charlie_Bubble]

Originally Posted by zoombini

Yes, but isnt the regulation she quoted about telephone conversations & not email use?

Also isnt it still illegal to open our postal mail?

This person may have quoted the wrong law, but she has complied with the section of the correct law, by warning you that your email may be monitored. So they can now monitor your email.

Not sure about the legality of opening mail.

[SOSAGES]

i cant see it being a problem its the companies email really, they own the pc the software the server and the dsl line it goes down.- the user just happens to send it on behalf of the company - what would u have thats a secret you work for them so they need to know whats what - if u was sending 100 personal emails a day they would probably want to know and say get some work done

[Charlie_Bubble]

I would say that as long as you do the job you are paid for, don't use the email and internet constantly, at the detriment of your work, you'll be ok. This kind of thing is just a warning shot to make people think and to outline the fact that they can do this if need be. It's fairly standard these days for companies.

Unless you completely abuse this sort of thing, it'll probably only ever be brought up as supporting evidence if they ever wanted to get rid of someone and just needed a bit more to make it totally legal. might sound nasty, but that's the only thing I can see them using it for.

[Defiant]

also they know doubt have software that looks for key words on incoming outgoing e-mails. Those are the one's most likely to me blocked or looked at. If there are things you class as personal and don't wont them to see use word and password protect the document or winzip. I've always stayed one step ahead of them

EDIT: Some of these keywords are things you'd never think either. They pick up stupid things like story,joke etc

[SOSAGES]

ive noticed thats its just easier not to bother with any rules for users about internet and email ..let them do what they like as long as they can still do their job and dont have emule running i think a good relationship helps, so they know not to take the p!ss.

[Jerrek]

This is nothing wrong with a company monitoring your use of their telephone systems, their email system, and their internet system. They are the owner, and they have a right to do anything they want with their own property. If you don't like it, talk to them about it, but they do have the final say.

On the other hand, if you're using Hotmail on your cellphone which belongs to you, they have no right to look at it. Except of course, if you're doing Hotmail through their network.

[zoombini]

Thats the way to go sosages...

I'm not having a problem with what has been said in general, the fact that they log our IT use etc is known.

I was just being picky that I thought she was quoting the wrong act of Parliament in a typical BS fashion that we seem to get

Also I am sure that opening postal letters is illegal unless they are addressed To the company & not just to a person at the company.

As for abusing IT, it goes on all day every day around here, no-one seems to bother, not even IT who are always connected to a download site somewhere..

[Defiant]

Originally Posted by SOSAGES

ive noticed thats its just easier not to bother with any rules for users about internet and email ..let them do what they like as long as they can still do their job and dont have emule running i think a good relationship helps, so they know not to take the p!ss.

Problem is that doesn't matter. Most managers in large companys have no choice as its all done via a department like computer security which covers. They know and then you know

[Defiant]

Originally Posted by Jerrek

On the other hand, if you're using Hotmail on your cellphone which belongs to you, they have no right to look at it. Except of course, if you're doing Hotmail through their network.

If your accessing your own e-mail via there broswer then they wont know anyway. HTTPS dont forget

[Rob]

Originally Posted by Defiant

If your accessing your own e-mail via there broswer then they wont know anyway. HTTPS dont forget

They won't know what is being transimitted, but will probably be able to determine which user is making a connection and to which site, if only by IP addy of the computer making the connection and the site being connected to. If the same IP shows up too often, that's when questions could start to be asked. It should be remembered that even the simplest of server software systems available today have logging capability, which is often switched on by default. Sooner or later a boss of IT admin will ask questions about what is going on, how they can cut costs, why the system is so sloooow, etc, and then the trail of acusations can start, even in an otherwise small and friendly company.

Originally Posted by zoombini

As for abusing IT, it goes on all day every day around here, no-one seems to bother, not even IT who are always connected to a download site somewhere.

IT depts will often be the biggest abusers, after all they have access to the logs etc and no doubt have more means than most to manipulate and side step systems.

Originally Posted by zoombini

Also I am sure that opening postal letters is illegal unless they are addressed To the company & not just to a person at the company.

Hmm not sure about that, everywhere I've worked for post has always been opened centrally, and then distributed. If that were completely illegal I'm sure someone somewhere would have changed that practice? The fact that it is sent to the company address appears sufficient, it doesn't necessarily say the company name on it. The only stuff that is'nt opened is if it's marked "Private & Confidential".