Perhaps the problem is how I interpreted Jason's original message. To quote: "The e-mail policy states that they:- 'can open and read staff eMails in accordance with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA 2000) and the Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice, Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000. This means that the we can intercept a communication or eMail in the course of its transmission in order to:" It then goes on to list (more or less) what is in the Telecomms Regs. My earlier replies were based on my interpretion of this as meaning that the business is not a communications provider but is saying that it could apply both the powers within the Telecomms Regs and the wider powers which RIPA provides. Regards, Graham ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ All archives of messages are stored permanently and are available to the world wide web community at large at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html If you wish to leave this list please send the command leave data-protection to [log in to unmask] All user commands can be found at : - http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm (all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^