Gordon Hunt <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I'm in the midst of an argument about a new internet/email policy with
> our lawyers.
>
> Their suggested policy includes the following:
>
> "employees and students should be aware that there is no legitimate
> expectation of privacy in their use of the telephone system or the
> internet and email systems at work."
Charles Christacopoulos <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Common practice I am afraid. Your institution should not have paid
> solicitors for the above.
I would have to agree with Charles - on the first point at least :-)
Notifying staff and students that they have no legitimate expectation of
privacy (or more specifically that any communications made on institutional
equipment may be subject to monitoring) is tied up with the requirements of
the RIPA 2000 and the Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice)
(Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000. See also the ECHR case
of Halford v. The United Kingdom.
G K Smith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Organisations invest considerable sums of money in the provision of
> computer-based equipment and services for business-related communication
and
> information retrieval purposes and I have never understood why employees
> should be allowed even limited access to such systems for any kind of
> personal use, especially where taxpayers money is involved.
It seems clear that employers should ensure that their employees have
access to unmonitored communications equipment (payphones would fit the
bill, for those worried about the public purse) for the purpose of making
personal calls from the workplace (Oftel guidelines). Failure to provide
facilities via which employees can make and receive personal phone calls
would appear to be considered unreasonable "It is not reasonable to assume
that people at work will never make or receive calls touching on personal
and domestic matters." (Oftel)
> They go on to say that all telephone calls, emails and internet sessions
> may be monitored and that emails/voicemails may be accessed when staff
> are away. They give a list of reasons that monitoring may take place that
> includes monitoring "performance of staff or students" and "adherence to
> this and other policies".
>
> I'm very worried about this as it removes any sense of privacy at all
> from the workplace. I also can't see how it squares with RIP apart from
> anything else, and the sense that I've got from this list in the past is
> that there *is* an element of privacy in work-based emails.
>
> Any advice/comments, particularly quoting relevant legislation would be
> gratefully received, as I'm not a lawyer and am finding it hard to
> formulate my response in any other terms than those of moral indignation!
See <http://www.jisc.ac.uk/pub01/smbp14_full.html>
Andrew
Andrew Charlesworth
Senior Research Fellow in IT and Law
Director, Centre for IT and Law
School of Law/Department of Computer Science
University of Bristol
Wills Memorial Building
Queens Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ
Tel: 0117 954 5355 (Law), 0117 954 5633 (CompSci)
Fax: 0117 925 1870 (Law), 0117 954 5208 (CompSci)
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]
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