In article <[log in to unmask]>, Andrew
Cormack <[log in to unmask]> writes
>At 10:05 19/09/00 +0100, Roger Cook wrote:
>
>... lots of good points
>
> > Fifth, the new Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) must now be
> > considered. This is an extremely complex piece of legislation and one
> > clause suggests that employers may have a duty to monitor email. However,
> > the Act goes on to suggest that it can only be monitored in transit. Now
> > there are ways of doing this but if you get it wrong, the aggrieved
> > employee has another Act under which to bring an action.
>
>There is a bit more detail about monitoring of traffic by employers in the
>draft regulations on lawful business practice regarding the interception of
>communications published by the DTI a few weeks ago. These fit under
>section 4(2) of the RIP Act. The consultation period on these has now
>closed, but the documents appear to be still on the web at
>http://www.dti.gov.uk/cii/lbpcondoc.htm
See also this extract from the LINX submission to the original RIP
consultation: http://www.linx.net/noncore/responses/ioca_response.html
10. If you are a small - medium sized business can you comment on the
ways that compliance to these proposals would be difficult or
impossible?
There is potential for conflict between employers and employees over the
treatment of private e-mail, which could lead to a reduction in the
public confidence for e-mail as a communications medium, compared to
other media where a right to privacy at the workplace has been
established. In particular, we do not believe that the Government has
fully considered the issues raised in Home Office Circular 15/1999
[#20], particularly those discussed in paragraph 9 when applied to the
situation where an employer seeks to intercept employees’ e-mail for
commercial or other reasons. E-mail has as much justification for
personal content as phone calls, yet a right to privacy is not as
obviously implementable by an ‘E-mail Payphone’.
#20 http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/circulars/1999/hoc9915.htm "Everyone
has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and
his correspondence. Many people make and receive telephone calls at work
relating to personal matters. It is not reasonable to expect that
employees will never be contacted on a domestic matter in work time, or
that the employee will never have reason to make personal calls from the
office. One way of addressing this problem would be through the
provision of payphones in the workplace..."
--
Roland Perry | tel: +44 1733 207705 | [log in to unmask]
CEO & Regulation Expert | fax: +44 1733 207729 | http://www.linx.net
London Internet Exchange | mbl: +44 7050 604080 | /contact/roland
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