... Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. You may think your United States employee rights authorize you to have a privacy workplace. People are wrong because, according to workplace privacy studies, the odds were good that your employer was monitoring all your internet actions, including your web pages and chat rooms (Niznik, 2011). If your company policy does not state there is a workplace privacy policy, your employer may watch, listen, and read just about everything in workplace area. Employers have the right to protect their business, their finances, and all of their equipment. The American Management Association (AMA) conducted a study of 526 employers which most use some type of electronic surveillance of the employees (Niznik, 2011). Many employers will deny they use any type of electronic surveillance however; the odds are good that your employer has “the eye,” watching your every move at work. Employers are not required to provide workplace privacy because your employers own everything you use at work. Your employers own the computers you work on, the telephones you talk on and the buildings in which you work. There are only a few weak employee workplace privacy right laws that exist. Since there are so few workplace privacy laws, it is legal for “the eye” to spy on you without your consent or your awareness. The only time an employee should have privacy at work is when they are changing their clothes or using the bathroom...
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...1. Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. With the increased use of technology, employers are constantly searching for new means to protect their company, secure their investments, and increase employees’ productivity. Because of this, employees cannot reasonably expect to have privacy within the workplace. Although employees would like privacy in their office, on their computer, and during phone conversations, there is no law legally granting privacy to employees in the workplace. The only place an employee could have a reasonable expectation of privacy is in the restroom. Also, since the employers need to know all employees are providing a proper job, that the workplace place is always secured, also because as the owner of the company he owns the computer network, the terminals and will be the biggest loser if the company fails, he or she is free to monitor employees in order to protect the business and at the same time the employees. Even if employees are sometime given today some minimal protection from computer and other forms of electronic monitoring in the work place, especially through union contract, the Fourth Amendment; or Connecticut, Labor Code Chapter 557 and so on, 92% of all of the US companies still conducting high electronic surveillance in the workplace according to the American Management Association (AMA) report of 2009. For example, personal calls are protected under federal case law. So when an employer...
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...AGE AND INFORMATION PRIVACY UNIVERISTY OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE 5 AUGUST 2011 | An estimated 35 million people use e-mail – either via their company’s computers or on paid networks. Unlike telephone calls, which by law are private because the phone lines are considered common carriers, a company owns its computer network and all the data in it. Seemingly, private email has been used against employees in everything from sexual harassment cases to charge of trade secret theft. Even employees who carefully delete their email cannot escape cyber-investigators who can hunt through a computer’s backup system to find just about anything ever stored in a computer. That is to say, the use of email is like having a video camera consistently running. Information Privacy can be defined as the relationship between collection and dissemination of the information. There is no doubt that there is a public expectation of privacy, however, the term itself has legal and political issues surrounding it. Information Privacy affects our personal and professional life. With the invention of the personal computer in 1970 and the internet reaching a critical mass in 1990, and the adoption of this technology three decades later, we society catapulted into what is known as the “Information Age”. The “Information Age” has allowed global network communication and shaped our modern society. With so many advancements in technology and the reliability of computers in our daily lives...
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...The average person does not go to work expecting to have big brother looking over their shoulder when they are using their computer. In this day and age the monitoring of computer usage has become more prevalent than it was in the past. As a computer user you have access to more resources on many computers that are just a few mouse clicks away. With your computer at work you can send emails to the four corners of the earth. Today, you can use the World Wide Web to get look at just about anything you can imagine. This includes pictures, sounds, and video. The desktop computer has become a very powerful tool in today’s workplace. There are downsides to this power too. Because of these downsides employers are finding it necessary to monitor what you are doing on your computer. Does this infringe on your privacy right in the workplace? Do you know what your privacy rights in the workplace are? When you are using your computer at the workplace to access you email your activities may be monitored without your knowledge. Companies are not monitoring what computer users are doing with their email. Do you send email to users on the Internet? Most if not all company Internet activity passes through a firewall. One of the functions of a firewall is to monitor Internet traffic coming into and out of the company’s computer network. If you are sending emails to Internet users your company firewall is monitoring whom it is being sent too and if they respond too you. Employers watch company...
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...Employee Privacy Report Introduction Using e-mail, the Internet, and privacy policies at an organization is partially what an employee does daily. Properly using the Internet, e-mail and privacy policies is the responsibility of each staff member. Although staff used e-mails to communicate with employees as well as research the Internet for information related to the job, one would expect for certain information to remain private; however, it does not occur like this all the time. Businesses have in place policies where they have the right to observed employees activities during job. While it is important for employees to be mindful of their companies’ policies, it is more important to know that employers have the responsibility to ensure that their employees have been properly inform and made aware of these policies. When an employer provide an employee with a copy of the companies handbooks, the handbook should address such issues as electronic communication and Internet use while on company computers. Additionally, most companies policies states, whether “internet use and communication … are considered part of the company’s business” and “such communication are not to be considered private or personal to any individual employee.” However, some company’s policy also provides, that “occasional personal use is permitted” (Gavejian). What are the e-mail use, Internet use, and privacy policies at your job? Law allows employing organizations to monitor business...
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...Internet Privacy XBIS 219 Internet Privacy To Whom It May Concern: This email addresses internet privacy and security in the workplace as well as at home. When using the internet it is very important to ensure that all steps are being taken to ensure that information is safe guarded and protected. At home as well as in the workplace, anti-virus software can be used to ensure that people are not potentially hacking into someone’s personal information. Technology ethics in the workplace can be a big issue. Information that is meant for certain parties can be accessed by people that it is not intended for if precautions are not taken to ensure that information is locked away and accessible only by those that need access to it. Privacy in the home and privacy in the workplace is definitely two different perspectives. At home one might have the luxury of locking their computer off to anyone and making sure that important information is not left lying around for anyone to see. However there is always a chance of someone stealing the computer or the information, and that could be detrimental, depending on what that information was and what it was used for. Now in the workplace privacy is a little more secure, however there are downfalls to the workplace as well. Employees can walk past and hear you discussing private and personal information, also if you have a desk and you leave it unlocked, there is a chance someone can go looking through it. Wi-Fi...
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...Your family is your greatest treasure and your home your safest citadel from the unwanted influences of the world. That's why monitoring software to track and log internet and computer use is a necessity. It lets you block and filter a host of influential content that could prove harmful to your children's development and the overall peace of your home. Just knowing that monitoring software is installed on your computer can keep users honest. Everything from pornography to explicit gore, violent games, gambling and more can be found with a few keystrokes. Online predators, cyber bullying, hateful websites and other negative influences can potentially plague your children. You can safeguard your family from unseemly and damaging connections by using computer monitoring software. Most monitoring applications offer a multiplicity of protections and a variety of tools. Our researchers tested and ranked monitoring tools to bring you an objective comparison of the best computer tracking software. Our top three products are SpyAgent, WebWatcher and PC Pandora. Read our articles on monitoring software to learn more about computer monitoring tools. Monitoring Good monitoring software includes tools to record all website visits and online searches. The software should have the ability to detect when a computer user accesses social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter or views online pornography. Some monitoring applications can capture blog posts, usernames and even passwords...
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...Alex Martino LEGL 616.12 4/11/2012 Privacy with Regards to Electronic Communication in the Workplace Background Given the rise of electronic communication, it is not surprising that privacy with regards to communication such as emailing, texting, or social networking, has become a very big issue. Probably the most prominent area relating to electronic privacy is consumer privacy. Stories about Google or Facebook’s privacy policies are front-page news. However, although it perhaps receives less attention, electronic workplace privacy is just as big an issue. Workers communicate at work using various devices. Some workers rely on a computer to send emails. Other workers may favor using a land phone or a cell phone for communication with important clients. In some cases, workers use texting on cell phones to communicate with fellow employees. The one similarity between all these workers is that they are all probably communicating on a device or on a network that belongs to the company that they work for. Workers are also likely to use work equipment, a computer or a company cell phone, to make personal calls. This makes sense, given the long hours that people often spend at work and the ease of using work machines to communicate. A recent article in The Economist, “Slaves to the Smartphone”, states “Employees find it ever harder to distinguish between ‘on-time’ and ‘off-time’—and indeed between real work and make-work.” Most electronic communication at work (whether...
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...common practice in some workplaces. This procedure can be accomplished through e-mail, telephone, camera, internet and other electronic surveillance monitoring systems. This procedure was designed to be used solely for business purposes. In many instances employees have been made to feel as if their privacy has been invaded. Upon implementing such practices employers and employees both have a need to be knowledgable of any policies permitting the use of monitoring devices and to know their rights. Research The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) is the only federal statute that offers workers protections in communications privacy. ECPA prohibits the intentional interception of electronic communications. However, the ECPA contains loopholes that facilitate employee monitoring. First, employers are permitted to monitor networks for business purposes. This enables employers to listen in on employee phone calls or to view employees' e-mail. Employers may not monitor purely personal calls, however, in order to determine that a call is personal, employers usually have to listen to portions of the employee's conversation. Second, an employer may intercept communications where there is actual or implied employee consent. Consent has been found where the employer merely gives notice of the monitoring. An example of a case in which the courts ruled in favor of the employee: Stengart v. Loving Care Agency, Inc. New Jersey Supreme Court Upholds Privacy Claims. The New Jersey...
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... | Executive Summary According to a 2009 survey conducted by American Management Association (AMA), the top two reasons employers provided for monitoring their employees were performance evaluation and quality control. Workplace monitoring may sound wrong, but it provides many benefits to an organization and its staff members, such as lower operating costs and high production rates. However, in the process of monitoring employees, employees’ privacy rights are violated mainly through computer monitoring, telephone monitoring and background checks. Productivity is one of the main reasons cited by employers for introducing electronic surveillance and employee testing to the workplace. Employers believe that corporate survival demands continuous improvements in employee productivity. Errors, poor products, and slow service hurt business. Therefore, monitoring and testing to identify and correct these problems are considered to be sound management practices (Wright). However, the following will analyze privacy in the workplace from an ethical point of view using three workable theories: Kantianism, Act Utilitarianism, and Social Contract Theory. Privacy...
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...Assignment 2 Examine Computer Forensics and Privacy Computers and the Internet have become a pervasive element in modern life. This technology is also used by those who engage in crime and other misconduct. Effective investigation of these offenses requires evidence derived from computers, telecommunications and the Internet. The need for digital evidence has led to a new areas of criminal investigations: Computer Forensics. Forensic investigators identify, extract, preserve and document computer and other digital evidence. This new field is less than fifteen years old, and is rapidly evolving. Education in this field has focused largely on its technical aspects. However, there are significant legal issues and ethical problems that investigators must deal with. Failure to follow proper legal procedure will result in evidence being ruled inadmissible in court. As a result, a guilty criminal might go free. Failure to behave in an ethical manner will erode public confidence in law enforcement, making its job more difficult and less effective. Investigators must have a working knowledge of legal issues involved in computer forensics. They must know what constitutes a legal search of a stand-alone computer as opposed to a network; what laws govern obtaining evidence and securing it so that the chain of evidence is not compromised; what telecommunications may lawfully be intercepted or examined after they have been received; what legally protected privacy rights employees...
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...the variety of computer programs and monitoring systems available for the sole purpose of monitoring what employees are doing while on the clock electronic surveillance of employees is on the rise. Issue of thief, employee performance issues, harassment and discrimination issues as well as compliance guidelines that must be followed by several industries companies , as well as safety issues, companies are turning more and more to monitoring employees and what goes on in the work place. Electronic Surveillance of Employees Electronic surveillance of employees is a growing trend with employers. Employers want to know that their employees are being honest, productive and loyal. Employees are concerned that employers are taking electronic surveillance of their employees too far. With ever increasing technological advancements in surveillance equipment it is becoming increasingly easier for employers to monitor what employees are doing while at work. Employees are finding it more and more difficult to trust that anything done at work can be consider private. Explain Where an Employee Can Reasonably Expect to have Privacy in the Workplace An employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. However, the location and extent of that privacy is determined by the company’s policies. Privacy policies are determined by several factors, each company depending on the services and products provided will have different policy’s addressing privacy issues for their...
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...Electronic surveillance in the workplace Electronic Surveillance in the Workplace: Concerns for Employees and Challenges for Privacy Advocates Anna Johnston and Myra Cheng Paper delivered 28 November 2002 International Conference on Personal Data Protection Hosted by Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee, Korea Information Security Agency Seoul, Korea Ms Anna Johnston is the NSW Deputy Privacy Commissioner. Ms Myra Cheng is a Research & Policy Officer with Privacy NSW, the Office of the NSW Privacy Commissioner. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Dr Ben Searle, Macquarie University, in providing an overview of the relevant literature from the field of organisational psychology. Introduction This paper takes up the challenge of talking about privacy in the workplace - a site of potential conflict in which there may be co-existing radically different views on whether workers can or should have any expectations of privacy. As long as there has been employment, employees have been monitored. Nebeker D M & B C Tatum, "The effects of computer monitoring, standards and rewards on work performance, job satisfaction and stress" (1993) 23(7) Journal of Applied Social Psychology 508 at 508. However, in recent years, with an environment of affordable technology, the availability of less easily observable or detectable monitoring devices, and a lack of adequate regulation, there has been an explosion in the use of electronic monitoring...
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...Employee Privacy Rights in the Workplace Employee Privacy Rights in the Workplace Employees must have the right to phone security, application confidentiality, the right to no sexual harassment, and the right to not have any personal questions asked that do not pertain to work. Employee privacy laws are limited, which makes it easy for employers to invade the privacy of its employees. Some things are personal and should remain that way. In today’s working environment, employers need to reevaluate their techniques, approach this ongoing situation, and find alternative solutions to this problem. There are limits to everything in life, and there needs to be limits set on employee privacy laws. Employee privacy laws are limited; they are not set up to protect employees. Someone needs to do something to protect employee privacy. Many Americans accuse their employers of violating their privacy. Employers are becoming more vicious on how they screen new candidates as well as their current employees. Normally employers will conduct background checks, random drug testing, and maybe even a credit check. The question that needs addressing here is “How much are we willing to give up satisfying our employers”? Employees need to become more aware of this situation. Employers have the upper hand in this situation. Everyday they find a new way to invade their employees’ privacy. In today’s world of ever-changing technology, the court and legislature systems...
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...Entitled to Some Kind Of Privacy? : Monitoring Employees in the Workplace Everyone is entitled to the right of privacy in their workplace. You give your employer 100% of your best effort and complete your job assignments at work. You get a lunch break, you get a smoke break if you smoke, and bathroom breaks at your free will. There are cameras in your workplace, monitoring software on your computer that possibly is capturing your keystrokes without your knowledge, and the possibility of your phone calls being monitored because there is a label on your telephones stating “Consent to monitoring.” So do you really have privacy while you are at work? With the advancement of information technology in the world, about every company that is around at this very moment, has performed some type of surveillance at some time or another in its course of operation. Employers argue that they have every right to protect their assets to ensure their company’s ability to thrive securely. Assets can be the trade secrets of a company, their network, confidential data, computer hardware, and lastly, its employees. Employers have a difficult decision of deciding the rights of their employees versus protection of themselves. Employers also feel that they have the right to monitor their employee’s internet usage, email, and telephone calls to prevent liability from sexual harassment within the company via email (inappropriate jokes) and to monitor computer usage for employee performance...
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