Ian are you the sites official Devil's advocate? So a right to privacy within employment exists. is this a statement or rhetorical question? I would have thought..yes if it's aqvestion Would the same type of policy enable management searches of e-mail for business purposes? Yes, as long as you allow the staff to have apersonal folder and make it clear anything in it will not be searched unless by law enforcement agencies or any other emergency. What about automated searches? in what way? Simon (wishing he had never asked this bloody question!) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 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 Any queries about sending or receiving message please send to the list owner [log in to unmask] (all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^