Perhaps I ought to clarify my statements.
Although the LBP regs are in force, their application as to monitoring of
e-mails is limited to the few "core" purposes such as quality control,
ensuring the smooth running of systems, crime detection and prevention,
national security, ensuring only authorised users are using the systems and
monitoring to see whether the e-mail is busness or personal use.
In the cases stated above, it is necessary to make reasonable efforts to
ensure all parties have been informed that monitoring takes place.
Most employers want to read the content of the e-mails for other purposes
such as compliance with internal policies on CONTENT and acceptable use of
the e-mail, not just whether it is business or personal. Monitoring is not
enough in most cases.
In some cases, the organisation would not want to inform users of their
actions.
The code of practice from the OIC will spell out what kind of interceptions
can take place under the LBP for policy compliance issues and how the
personal data can be used and under what circumstances. If you have used a
person's name for their e-mail address rather than "enquiries@" or similar,
it is personal data. If a person's details are included in the e-mail it is
personal data.
So to clarify (and retract to a limited extent): you MAY monitor e-mails for
a few limited purposes, if the e-mails contain personal data you don't know
yet whether or how you can use that information.
Sorry for the bland one-liner in my original posting.
Ian Buckland
MD
Keep IT Legal Ltd
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