A study on the employee privacy at workplace in telecom industry

Employers and employees are concerned about computers in the workplace. Employers worry that employee's waste time, such as by chatting or shopping on-line. Employers worry too that employees create liability by viewing and circulating pornographic, racist, or other improper material. Employees worry about their privacy. Software, like Specter, SurfWatch, Eblaster, Telemate, Message Inspector, Silent Watch, Websense, Little Brother, and Win What Where, allows the computer owner to monitor computer use. Some software allows the owner to check users’ e-mail and Web destinations; some also allows viewing of entire e-mail messages, Web images, and word processing documents. Moreover, most of this software can be installed without alerting the computer user. The press has reported that employees have no privacy rights whatsoever when using their employers’ computers and that employers can spy at will. Actually, employees as well as employers may have rights. However, ascertaining these rights and identifying the as-yet unresolved questions requires a careful reading of statutes, case law, and other authorities, much of which is out-dated and thin.