Employee Privacy Report

Employee Privacy Report

Celita Hubbard

Business Communications COM/285

October 25, 2010

Toni Pauls, Ph.D.

Employee Privacy Report

“The computer systems, including email and the systems providing internet access are the property of this company. These systems are to be used for company business purposes only. Adherence to this policy is expected of all users of the systems. Use of the systems indicates the user’s agreement to comply with this policy. Non compliance may result in revocation of access to the systems and further disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment. This company’s management has the right to monitor the systems at all times for all lawful purposes including the prevention of unauthorized use and the verification of security procedures. During such monitoring of the systems, information received, stored or sent may be accessed, read, copied, disclosed and/or deleted at any time without prior notice and sites accessed may be identified and tracked.” (Automobile Club of Southern California, 2010, p. 9).

This is the message the pops up everyday when I log into my computer at work. The company I work for is very serious in regards to the internet and email use on their property. Anything done on the property of the company is owned by the company and there is no privacy. I have seen employees terminated for emailing offensive messages to coworkers as well as abusing the internet access. My employer was able to print out the email and every person it was sent to and a list of every website the employee accessed as well as how long this person stayed on a particular website. The company I work for monitors email and internet usage closely. When websites are accessed other than the employee website our managers are contacted and asked if we were given permission to be on that particular website. When an employee is using the internet for other than business reasons he/she receives a verbal warning...